Paradise Lost
by AiriaMurillo
Summary: They heard about it and signed up thinking nothing was going to happen. Then America gets involved in World War 1 and they are all sent off for training. It is soon known that one has more experience than others and a horrific past he must try and escape from. The pay is high but the risks are is a way to make money but are these young men really going to risk their lives
1. Chapter 1

Paradise Lost Chapter 1

_**Hey guys, this is an AU set in World War Two. It's going to be twenty chapters long and I have had this as a paper draft for almost as long as I had started writing DI back in the day. **_

_**Please be aware some characters within this story are not anything like their real life counter parts because this is a story!**_

_**I might mention this a couple of times; all my military knowledge will come from research I have done on the American Army during WW1 and the training parts will come from my knowledge being an army cadet and the training I did there.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**January 12**__**th**__**, 1917 – Private Jorel Decker's point of view**_

I wake up on a freezing cold train with my best friend snuggled into my side, he's still fast asleep. I notice that he is affected by the coldness of the winter weather a lot more than I have been. I feel a lot of guilt just watching him shivering in his sleep. It is my fault that he is here, he should be back home in Los Angeles, where it is a lot warmer. I wrap my arm around his smaller frame, then I start rubbing his arm. I am hoping by doing this enough I can generate enough friction to warm him up while he sleeps. Once we arrive at camp and get into the swing of things I think he will feel warmer. They will have blankets there too, we don't have any blankets here. I don't know why they haven't issued us with one.

I look around, there are not many people awake at the moment. Right before we got onto the train to go to the training camp we were given a brief on what will happen and to get as much rest as we can throughout the journey since it will be a long one. Two people on the bench on the opposite side of the carriage were watching me with curiosity. It is scarce for two males to have the close bond that I have with my friend and be so open with it. "Hey, my name's Jordon Terrell," the shorter of the two says, I am glad he is not being rude after we made eye contact. It would have been an incredibly awkward situation otherwise. I need to get to know more people on this train anyway because we will be trained together.

I manage to shake his hand without disturbing my friend who has his head on my shoulder. "Hey, I'm Jorel Decker," I tell him. Jordon nudges his friend, encouraging him to speak as well. "I'm Matthew Busek," he tells me, the first thing I noticed was I was not expecting his voice to be like that. I look to my shivering companion who is still fast asleep, and I don't think he is going to be waking up any time soon. I know that he is still struggling to warm up despite my best efforts. "So, your friend doesn't really cope with the cold?" Jordon asks, making me look up from my sleeping friend. "Not really, but I am sure he will be fine once he gets to move around a bit," I tell him. Matt doesn't say much, but then I got to know him a little more and he is a lot like my sleeping friend. They are both shy and quite quiet.

Another guy who was on the other side of me wakes up and decides to join in the conversation. "Hey, I'm Dylan Alvarez," he tells us, and that name rang a bell inside my head somewhere. We keep talking regardless. "The boss said you'd wind up here eventually," Dylan says, and that was the thing that made me realise where I knew him from. Jordon and Matt gave us the WTF look. "We used to work together back in Los Angeles," I say, I don't know if they are from LA like us yet. That's why I didn't call it LA. They were about to ask us about it when my friend wakes up, a little startled and a little confused. "We are still on the train," I tell him, as he rubs the rheum (_Sleep) _out of the corners of his eyes. "What's your name?" Matt asks my friend. "I'm Danny Murillo," he tells them.

Dylan seems to recognise that name, maybe they have met before. I have known Danny since birth, so there is every possibility that they have met before. "Hey, you're the youngest child of Captain Murillo and you have a good job already. Why join us here?" Dylan asks, not trying to be offensive. He's just blunt sometimes. Danny is used to being asked about his father when they discover who he is, so it doesn't really faze him. Most people in our little part of Los Angles knows who Captain Murillo is, he has kinda of made himself a celebrity with his career and that he already has one son fighting on the frontlines.

"I kinda did it because I want my father to be proud of me for once. He doesn't think I am capable of doing any other work than at the café. I need the money too, the café has closed down because of the war and I want to make sure my mom will be okay financially," Danny replies. My grip on his arm is a little tighter than before. He does not have a good relationship with his father at all. I am pretty sure, well I know for a fact that his father beats him, just like he did with Danny's older brothers before they left for their military careers. Danny's older sister is the only one of the four children who has never been harmed.

"I am sorry, but who is Captain Murillo?" Jordon asks, I don't think he is from the same part of Los Angeles as we are. Again, Danny does not seem fazed by this question either. I know he doesn't trust them one hundred percent yet, he's got strong barriers up because of the trust issues his father gave him. "It's fine, my father is a high ranking officer in the army. He became less active with the deployment after I was born, and he was told not to join the frontline war effort that he was better off training people back in Los Angeles," Danny explains. I have noticed that he has started to shiver a little less now and I think he is finally starting to warm up now. The other's looked in awe because of how high his father is ranked. If only they knew the real Captain Murillo, they'd think a lot differently about the old man.

"Are your brothers still in the army?" I ask, to move the topic off the father. Danny nods at me. I knew Kyle is because he is off on the frontlines in Europe somewhere. "Rigo has been based in the camp we are going to for now," Danny replies. That's good, Danny will be looked after by his brother for sure. "Wow, that's awesome Danny," Jordon says, I like how positive he is about everything. Danny just shrugs. "It doesn't mean that I will be able to get away with anything. If anything they will watch me closer because my brother is there," Danny says. I know Rigo is going to have mixed reactions at first about Danny being at the training camp, but he will look out for his brother regardless of his feelings. We both would agree on the fact that Danny needs a break from the abuse he has been suffering back home.

Danny stretches a little and I see the pain in his eyes. "What did he do this time?" I ask, whispering to make sure the others don't hear. "Broke a couple of my ribs and I have bruising all over. I think I have a few cuts scattered around too," Danny replies. He whispered back. It's moment's like this where I really don't like his father one bit. Just because he's in the army does not mean that he has the justification to beat his sons like this. That has always been the reason he gives the boys for as long as I can remember at least. Danny and I always knew that excuse was total bullshit. There are plenty of people who have children while they are in the army and don't hurt them. His father can't even use the well I was abused as a child excuse either.

I think Danny will be happy to see Rigo again, it has been a while seen the brothers have been able to see each other. "What rank is Rigo now?" I ask him. Our ranks are Private since we only just joined. "He's a sergeant major now," Danny replies. So he is quite high up, but not as high as his father yet. "Do you have any knowledge to help you out here more?" Matt asks, I am sure Danny will share his tips if we are in the same room. "Yeah, I learned most of what I know as a child from my brothers and my father used to make me do drill every morning," Danny replies. I always found that weird, a little kid doing military stuff properly. Then again his father would argue that discipline should be taught early on.

We decided to change the topic and try and lighten the mood a little bit. We are all getting tired though, this train journey seems to be taking forever. We don't know what the time is since there are no windows in the carriage. Danny was already drifting off again, he was really tired, and he was exhausted trying to keep his body warm. "I am really sorry Danny," I tell him. He looks at me as if I have gone crazy. "What on earth are you saying sorry for?" he asks me. I didn't hurt him or anything, I would never do that to my friend. "If it wasn't for me then you would be at home right now where it is warmer," I tell him. I do really blame myself for him being here, I didn't know until yesterday that he had signed up too.

He let's out a little laugh and smiles at me. "Dude, I would have been here anyway if you were here or not. I needed another way out and having you here is a bonus," he tells me. I hug him tightly, no one needs to go through what Danny has been going through in his lifetime. I know he is here to have my back, but I had no idea how desperate he has been to leave his father this whole time. I know he wanted to leave eventually. "Another way out?" Matt asks us, the others were not paying attention which is good for Danny. "My home situation could be a lot better," Danny says, not wanting to say anything else. It would be hard having the pressure from his father to be the best and get called a failure if he didn't.

Matt gives him a sympathetic smile. The others start paying attention now, so Matt drops the subject and we could figure out something else to talk about. "So, anything interesting about you guys?" Jordan asks, I smile. "Danny can tell a lot about a person by looking at them," I say. Now Danny wants to hide in my shoulder. "You can?" Dylan asks, clearly in awe. "Uh, yeah," Danny replies. Maybe I should not have said that and dropped Danny in that. Danny thinks about it for another minute or so. "Well, parts of your uniform look brand new and high quality, so I would say that you're well off Dylan," Danny says. It's a skill that Danny's father has made him aware of and learn from a young age too I think.

"My family are rich, so I would say that's right Danny," Dylan says and Danny smiles. He feels a little better about this now and we get to know the others a bit better in the meantime. "Matt's and Jordon's uniforms are like mine and Jorel's. We aren't well off so not all of the uniform is new. However we aren't homeless poor either we are just in the middle," Danny says, and Matt smiles with Jordon. It looks like Danny got it right again. "Jorel was right, that is awesome," Dylan says, and Danny frowns a little bit. "It's not really that awesome, I am just a good observer. That guy over there looks like one of those try hard people that everyone else hates," Danny says, I'm going to keep an eye on that guy and see if Danny is right about that too.

The uniform we have to wear is called the Doughboy's uniform. Danny's a little big on him since he is always between clothe sizes whereas mine seems to fit okay. The cut and the tailoring of the uniform kinda gives us an hourglass figure since we look like we have broader shoulders, a narrower waist and wider hips or thighs. The helmet has got to be the worst part of the uniform in my opinion. The chin strap is the worst part of the helmet if it fitted on your head properly. It rubs and is just uncomfortable. I just hated the uniform in general. Danny's helmet is a little big on him, but I am sure that he is used to this. He has been raised in a military family, so I guess he would have less complaints than I would about the whole thing. Then again, he could hate it the same or more than me because he has seen it so often.

"Go back to sleep Danny. I promise you that I will wake you up when they give the food out," I tell him. I can't promise that I will wake him up when we get there because I don't know how much longer of this train journey we have left. I know it's a long one though. Danny shakes his head and looks at me. Dylan is the only other person awake now. "I'll have another nightmare Jorel, I'd rather not sleep right now," Danny tells me. I just feel so sorry for him right now. He's also in a bit of pain right now and I know that will not be helpful with sleeping either. I don't think I have ever had the desire to kill someone as much as I have whenever I think of Danny's father and what he has done to his three sons.

"You do need the rest though Danny," I tell him, I don't know how much we will be doing on the first day we get to the camp. The last thing I want is my best friend passing out because he is exhausted and not taking care of himself properly. Dylan gets up and makes Danny and I shuffle up one, then he sits on Danny's other side. "Maybe if Jorel and I stay close then you'll feel calm enough to sleep," Dylan suggests. He wrapped his arm around Danny carefully, so we were both snuggling the smaller one. "It already feels safer," Danny mumbles, he was already losing his battle against sleep. Dylan and I chuckle. "Go to sleep Danny bear," I tell him, bringing the nickname back that I have for him just as his eyes close.

I smile at him once I know he has fallen asleep. Dylan looks at Danny, I wonder what the younger guy is thinking about. "It must be nice for him to away from his father for a while," Dylan says, completely taking me by surprise. "What do you mean?" I ask him, once I had managed to regain my composure after that bomb shell. "I was there and saw his father give him the beating the other day," Dylan says, and it made me gasp. My movements woke Danny up, who must have been in a lighter sleep than I thought. "Oh shit, I am so sorry Danny," I tell him, seeing the pain in his eyes probably from the broken ribs. I probably should not have sworn either, but I felt so bad after waking Danny up when I told him he should be sleeping.

"You didn't do the damage, it's not your fault and you don't have to be sorry for it. I was in a lighter sleep than normal anyways," Danny tells me. Why does he do this? He manages to make my guilt disappear so easily even if I feel really guilty about something. "Danny, how long has your father been hurting you?" Dylan asks, Danny remembers Dylan from that day where he got beaten before we had to pack to leave and get the train. "Since I have been able to walk, he has done it to my brothers too, but no one knows for sure why he does it. He has mentioned the army as his reason before," Danny says, he gave himself a minute or two to work out how he was going to explain it to our friend. It's a tough topic to talk about.

"Woah, that is nasty. A real father would never beat his children, regardless of what reason they may or may not have for doing it," Dylan says, giving Danny's shoulder a squeeze. Dylan is right, but that has never stopped Danny's father from doing what he has been doing. "What happened that day anyway?" I ask Danny, I was curious since I wasn't there. I was only there the day after since I got a frightened phone call from Danny's mother begging me to come over and help her with Danny who did not wake up. I have some medical training, so I ran over and helped her look after her boy. I think if he did not get home that evening it happened there is every chance that his father would have come back to kill him.

"Well, I might as well tell you the whole story. It was two days ago when the café had to close down because of the war," Danny says. I am sure Dylan knows most of it, but it would be interesting for me to find out why Danny's father decided to beat him up the other day. I have my suspicions, but I know assumptions are the mother of all fuck ups.

_**January 10**__**th**__**, 1917 – Danny Murillo's point of view – Flashback – **_

"_Hey Daniel, what is this I hear about you joining up to join your brothers," Jake, my boss asks me, as I wipe down a table that had just been cleared by Cali moments ago. I stop cleaning to look at my boss. "Well, we know we will have to close during the war because of the rationing and stuff. I might as well follow in my brother's footsteps in the meantime," I tell him. Then I go back to cleaning the table. I knew he was going to say something else about it, but the bell above the door rang, signalling we have a new customer and his face dropped a little. I turned around to see who it was since I had finished cleaning that table._

_My father walked in, he must have come straight from work because he is still in his army uniform. I walk over to the counter to serve him. He has somehow managed to scare the rest of the staff, so they refuse to serve him and because I am his son I am the one who ends up doing it most of the time. "Hello Captain Murillo, what can I get you this afternoon?" I ask him, greeting him how I would any other customer. Father does seem to be in a good mood this afternoon. "Hey kiddo, I would like a mocha and my youngest son's smile please," he replies. I couldn't help myself I had to smile at him as I put the order through the till. Father is never usually in a good mood, so I love to take advantage of the times where he is happy._

_I make his drink how he likes it and he pays the $2 and even gave me a $5 tip for my tip jar. He has never done that before. "Had a good day in work then?" I ask him, wanting to call him father, but resisting in case he turns angry at me for saying father in public. "Yes, the new recruits we have are pretty good and there were no issues today," he tells me, sounding proud of himself like usual. I turn to clean the counter where the coffee machine is, so he does not see me biting my lip. "That's good then," I tell him, giving myself a minute before I replied. He's never been fond of me biting my lip, it's something he has tried to beat out of me, but it has not worked so far. If anything it has just made it worse._

_I hoped there was a slight chance that my name had not appeared on the list. He only trains the people who would be staying behind to fight in case America gets attacked. I applied to be a frontline fighter but there is every chance they would have put me on the list for the ones that father train. "I am glad you have not signed up son," he tells me. Jake gives me a look while father is not looking at us and I shake my head at him. "I would not sign up, that would be going against your wishes father," I tell him. I knew I was lying to his face when I was saying that. I am actually leaving for the training camp in two days' time, something which Jake will know about by the end of today, so he is aware in case the café stays open when I leave. _

_He smiles, and I feel like for once. This whole thing through feels completely wrong. He has never been this nice to me, even if he has had a good day at work before he sees me. He always manages to find a reason to hit me and does not feel the need to tell me this. It could be over something very small and insignificant that I may or may not have done. Due to the fact that my brothers are away with the army themselves it is always going to be me taking the brunt of the frustration even if I should not be taking it. He would never hit my mother or my sister either and I wish sometimes that he would never hit me or my brothers. You could probably do an in depth study into his behaviour and never truly work out what is going on. _

_Jake told me earlier that he is making today the last day of the café being open until the war is over however long that may take. Ever since 1914 we have steadily losing customers. The war has been scaring people and then America announced they were going to prepare to enter the war as the Germans have started unrestricted submarine warfare now. That was yesterday but it has been brewing for about two weeks now. That has scared people more even if we might not be directly fighting on the frontline. Closing time is in twenty minutes and I know I am going to be a horrible nervous wreck by then. My father feels like this is the only thing that I am capable of doing so when they close down he is going to be so mad at me._

_Jake notices that my behaviour has changed a little bit now that I have been thinking about it more. He takes me into his office and makes me sit down for a moment. "He doesn't know about the café closing yet does he?" Jake asks me, and I shake my head. "He has not found out yet. He doesn't even know I have signed up yet either. My name has not shown up on his list and it won't since he is training people who stay here. He doesn't even know that the café is closing down today either," I tell him. Now I am feeling really nervous about the whole thing now. I don't know how this evening is going to pan out now because only one thing will be revealed to my father tonight. The whole army thing will probably be revealed on the twelfth when I leave to get on the train and leave this place._

"_What is going to happen when he does find out about those things?" Jake asks me. I know he is getting more concerned and more worried about me. He is the only person besides Jorel that I have had the confidence in sharing what goes on behind closed doors without fearing any possible repercussions from it. Jake has promised me that he will not tell anyone about it unless he has my permission too. "No doubt he will beat me up when he does find out," I tell him. I bet Jorel will let me stay with him if it gets that bad. "Beat you over something that I have done and not you? That is a bit extreme," Jake says._

"_Extreme is something commonly associated with my father. It should be his middle name is you ask me," I tell him. He puts his hand on my shoulder and I look into his eyes. "He also looks for any excuse to hit me or my brothers when they are home," I tell him, feeling like I could be honest with Jake. He puts his other hand on my shoulder as if he wanted to shake some sense into me, but he knows that I know that it is wrong. "That is not right Danny," he tells me, speaking quietly in case anyone decided to eavesdrop on our conversation. "I know it's not, but it is all I have ever known, and I know that he isn't going to change while he is still alive," I tell him. We look at the clock and notice there are now ten minutes until closing time._

"_Come on, he will be worrying," Jake says, leading me back to the shop front where everyone else is. My father was watching the door as we walk out. "Is everything okay Daniel?" he asks me as I take his empty cup to clean it. "Yes, everything is fine. We were talking about how we plan to make some changes after the war to redecorate around here, make it look new for new customers," I tell him. I did feel a little bad though, once again I am lying to him. Having said that though, if we have enough money to spare, then we might make a couple of changes and touch up before we do reopen the cade whenever the war ends. We have no idea when exactly we will be able to reopen the café because we don't know how long the war is going to last._

_This was has been going on since 1914 and people would be lying if they told me that they have not mentioned it into a conversation or kept up to date with the war on the radio. It has been three years now and the war shows no signs of slowing down or stopping any time soon. That is why America has started to keep more of a closer eye on the Germans activities as it heats up to see if they should intervene. In the mean time anyone who was already deployed overseas was ordered to join the war effort where they are based. That is why Kyle is already fighting on the frontlines. He was in France just after the war broke out and he offered his assistance almost immediately which led to more soldiers doing the same the government made the announcement that anyone who was deployed could fight on the frontlines._

_Luckily father believed me. There are now roughly about five minutes until it is time to close the café. I am trying my best to show father that I am fine and not worried about what is about to happen. Jake is going to make a speech just before we close today. He will mention how we are not going to open again until the war is over. There are a few regulars that are still here, so we are not making the announcement to just my father. The regulars who are still here will spread the word to the others when they next see them, and I have been working with Cali and Kieran to make a nice little poster to let people know that we will be back soon. Kieran drew a little solider taking the sugar away which I found funny. It's a basic way to explain rationing to people who might not be aware of it. _

"_Are we doing it now?" I ask Jake as he walks over to me. I decided to sit on one the barstools we had behind the counter to try and hide how much I was shaking over this. "Yeah, that way most of the regulars know and will be able to tell the others," he tells me. Most of the regulars do leave within the next five minutes, so I guess now is as perfect time as any. He coughs loudly to get everyone to pay attention to him. "I would like to take this moment to thank you for all being regulars throughout the last three years or so. This has been tough for me and I am sure that Daniel, Kieran and Cali will agree on how tough it has been. Due to the rationing and the war, I have decided that I will close the café until the war is over and possibly the rationing has stopped," he says, and lets it sink in with the people in the room._

_I made the mistake of looking at my father straight away. He looked super pissed off, but when he saw my face he calmed down a little bit. I don't think he wanted to make a scene here. I know I am in deep shit for this though. "This was never going to be an easy decision for me to make, however I knew that it was not going to be realistic for me to keep this place open during these hard times. I have already lost very loyal customers and I feel like I will loose all my business if this place stays open," he says, looking at my father first and then around the room. _

_I know for a fact that father is going to beat me as soon as he gets the chance to. That will be as soon as we leave here no doubt. He seems to be cool, calm and collected to most people, but I was one the few who cold see the steam coming our of his ears. I know for a fact that he is fuming right now. His useless son has no job for an unknown amount of time. Well, that is what he thinks. I don't think that he would start the beating right now as there are too many people here to witness him. He would be arrested and then fired from his job which I don't think he would like really. He claims he is the only one capable bringing money into the house when he isn't really. We could all get jobs and support ourselves if he would let us. _

_I do plan on letting my mother and older sister that I have signed up for the army when I get home tonight. I have a feeling that mother will kind of guess that I have signed up. It was inevitable considering my older brothers have gone to. I am now questioning whether or not I will be alive for long enough to both tell my mother and sister and then leave to go to the training camp. It all depends on how he leaves me tonight and if he kicks me out of the house or not. He might be too angry to make those kinds of choices and might just beat me up until I am dead or something. Then closing time arrived and we had to convince some of the people to leave since they didn't want to go, and they wanted us to stay open a little longer._

_One of our oldest customers had been watching my father carefully and pulled me down to talk to me. "You be careful young man, he seems very angry. I want to see you back here when the place reopens with your amazing smile and the best customer service I have ever seen from a young man," she tells me. I think her name is Edith and she has been a regular since I started about 5 years ago now. She helped me settle in and get over my self confidence issues back in the beginning and she always gives me a biscuit with my tip and it's often the highlight of my day. "I will Edith, don't worry," I tell her. Her grandson is signing up to join the war and I told her that my brother would look after him since he works at the camp._

_I walked out after Edith had left and father followed behind me almost straight away. When no one was looking, he grabbed my arm harshly and dragged me into the alleyway next to the café. The first thing he did when we were in the shadows was slap me in the face. "What the fuck Daniel, why didn't you tell me this?" he asks, angry as usual. It annoys me sometimes that he thinks that I have to give him a minute by minute breakdown of my day. It's not like I knew this whole time, it was only decided the other day. "The café was going to close anyway. We have been losing customers since the start of the war. If we didn't close then I would have no job to come back to by the time this stupid world war ends," I tell him, feeling angry myself._

_One thing that I hate, and I mean hate about this whole thing is that my father is making the whole situation a lot worse than it is and that it needs to be. I can get another job (I already have one, the solider one) there will be plenty going around as all the men leave for the war when America finally declares war on Germany. I am not the weak, useless person that he thinks I am, and I am going to continue proving him wrong. He kicks the weak spot on the back of my right knee which always sends me crashing to the floor. He continues beating me and I don't bother fighting back. There is no point and I never would, I am no match for him in that aspect. He has a lot more strength when it comes to fighting. He also has three training dummies he uses frequently._

_He also was the one who taught me everything that I know about boxing and self-defence. I would never stand a chance against him even if I felt brave enough to do it. He would know what move I would make and how to counter the move before I even fully thought it through myself. He punched, and he kicked me until I was sure I was going to be black and blue under my clothes. I don't feel like I am going to pass out right away which I guess is a blessing. He also feels a bit merciful today as he has just walked off leaving me alone in the alleyway. I assume I can go home because he has not said that I have been kicked out or anything. He will be off to the pub now I am guessing, he should have gone before, I prefer the drunk beatings to the sober ones because he misses more._

_There was a person standing at the entrance to the alleyway, just watching me. That was all that they were doing, they were not making any effort to come and help me. Not that I am expecting anyone to help me with my problems anyway. I have been told enough times by my father that I am not worth the effort to be saved by anyone and I should just rot. I have to move or else I am going to be in this cold alley all night and mother would be panicking and calling the police. I manage to painfully pull myself onto my feet and I had to take a minute to steady myself on the wall before attempting to walk anywhere. It was when I started my attempt to walk out of the alleyway that the stranger decided to help me to the nearest place, the café. Jake would still be cleaning, and he would not have locked up just, yet I can rely on him to get me home._

"_Jesus, Daniel what the fuck happened?" Jake asks me when he hears the bell ding. He dropped everything he was doing to help me to the closest seat with the stranger holding me up. The stranger stayed even when I was sitting down. I think I have seen him before when I have been waiting for Jorel to get out of work when he wanted to come over to mine. "He got beaten up by an army dude in the alley," the guy says. Well, this is going to be embarrassing for me in a minute. Jake looks at me to confirm my story and I can't find my ability to speak so I just nod at him. It was like his worst fears had just been confirmed. He always worries about my father beating me when he has to make a decision about the café._

"_That army dude was his father, I knew I should have kept Danny behind to clean with me and then let him go after this father left," Jake says, mostly to himself. The beginning part was to the stranger though. The stranger gasps, anyone would when they found out that I was beaten up by my own father. "Why would someone do that to their kid?" the guy asks Jake. I was useless at this point to give any information. I guess it is even more of a good thing that I told Jake about everything. "No one really knows why he does it. It has happened to every son he has, and he has three of them," Jake tells the stranger._

_Then I see Jake getting up from his seat and walking to where I know the first aid kit is kept. My father has hit me with his belt on my back and his nails are pretty long and sharp now. I whimpered as Jake found one of the cuts on my back and cleaned it. "Sorry Danny, it has to be done buddy," he tells me. I tried to speak, but no words came out again. I wonder what the stranger's name is, he hasn't said it yet. I don't know what Jorel said his name was. I forgot because it has been a while since I have met Jorel at the factory. Well, he got fired from his job, so I don't have to wait for him anymore. Since I have taken more shifts on at work he waits for me now. He comes in and orders a drink first which is nice._

"_Hey dude, can you keep an eye on him while I get something for him to drink for the shock?" Jake asks the stranger who puts his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah sure, my name is Dylan by the way," Dylan replies as Jake gets up again. Dylan rubbed my shoulder gently to keep me calm while we wait for Jake to come back. I hate it when I get beaten so violently that I go into shock and it lasts for a long while. "Yes Mrs Murillo, he is with me in the café. Yes, I will take him home in a little while and make sure he gets home safely," Jake says, when he walks back into the room. We have some drinks in the staff room. _

_Well, Jake is currently on the phone, so he can't walk very far with the cable length. "He is just in shock Mrs Murillo, I can see him from here and his eyes are open," Jake tells my mother who is on the other end of the phone line. My mother must be worried about me now that is why she is calling him. I am usually home by now if I my father did not beat me to a bloody pulp. "I will see you later when I bring him home Mrs Murillo," he says and a few minutes later he puts the phone down. My mother is the type of person who says bye a few times at the end of the call. I find it quite funny when she talks to someone else who does the same. They just end up saying bye until father pulls the phone wire out if he is home. _

_Jake walks back over to where I am sitting with a glass of orange juice. He clearly looks worried about me and my current state of health. I feel so bad for worrying him, but there is nothing I can personally do about it right at this moment in time. "Danny can you hear me?" Jake asks me, he is now crouched down in front of me with the glass in his hands. I do not think he wants me to drink while I am still in bad shock. I could potentially choke and die and that is the last thing he wants right now. "Yeah," I finally manage to say and cheer in my head. Jake and Dylan smile at me so I know I am doing better. "drink a little bit of this. It will help with the shock and how pale you are," Dylan says. He helps me hold the glass while I take a sip of the drink._

"_Thanks," I tell him. The orange juice is slightly cold, but it didn't bother me at all. "Your mother called me, she was worried because you and your father are not home yet. I told her that I would take you home soon," Jake tells me. I knew my mother had called because I heard his half of some of the conversation. He obviously wasn't aware that I could hear him while I was in shock. My father is probably getting drunk again. I am starting to feel a little better now. Jake might wait a bit longer before he takes me home. I know that my father would not be home for a while, even if he does decide to come home at all tonight. He might stay out all night drunk as usual._

_Dylan puts his hand on my forehead and I struggle not to jump at the sudden contact. I know why he is doing it though, he is checking to see if I have a fever. "He doesn't have a fever," Dylan tells Jake. That was good to know. Jake is still continuing his injury check on me. "That's good, he doesn't have one for now. He will need to have someone's help keeping these wounds clean and make sure that his ribs heal in the right place," he tells us. He has been well trained in first aid with my assistance over the years. "Oww," I tell him as I feel him move one of ribs into place. I would have sworn too, but I decided against it._

_I didn't even know my shirt was off until then either. I guess I am still pretty much out of it. "I'm sorry Danny, it is going to hurt but I have to do it," Jake tells me. He was about to bandage my ribs, but then he remembered it is a very bad idea to do that. If I look after myself and let the right people know that I have broken ribs, so I make sure that they heal properly. "How are you feeling now Danny?" Dylan asks me. He was sitting behind me and rubbing my shoulders while I try and cope with the pain I am in. He is standing up now and Jake is putting the rubbish in the bin. "Not as bad as before. I am still in a bit of pain, but that is to be expected really," I tell him. I am used to being in this amount of pain really._

"_We should be heading off now Danny, your mum will be worrying a lot now. Would you like a ride home Dylan?" Jake asks Dylan. He is obviously going to still take me home to calm my mom down and make sure that I get home fine. "No thank you Jake," Dylan says, he put my shirt over my head. Then Dylan helps me up to my feet. I felt a bit weak, so I reached out to lean on Jake for support to help me walk around. "Take it easy Danny, I know you are hurting a lot right now. We can take as much time as you need. Your mom will understand when we get to yours," Jake tells me. He also makes sure that I took as little of my own body weight as possible. That was helpful to me because I don't feel safe walking by myself. _

_Jake currently owns a 1917 Chevrolet Series D car. It is own of the most expensive car I have ever seen. I have seen it priced at $1,385 brand new. It is also the newest, shiniest car that I have ever seen in my life. Jake helped me get as comfortable as possible on the seat, even though it is not the comfiest chair in the word. "Are you sure that you don't want a lift Dylan? I would be happy to drop you off once Danny gets home," Jake asks Dylan, just to make sure that Dylan doesn't change his mind. Dylan followed us out to help me walk but he didn't get into the car. "I will be okay walking, but thank you for the offer anyway Jake," Dylan says. We know that Dylan should be fine on his own, he has good street sense._

"_Okay Dylan, we will see you around," Jake says, as Dylan walks in the opposite direction of where we would be going. I do hope he is right, and he will be okay on his own. Jake drives me home as carefully as he could, so that the ride does not aggravate my injuries further. I am starting to feel a little strange now. I think the events of the day are finally starting to catch up with me. The adrenaline from the incident between my father and I in the alleyway has worn off and I am feeling drained and very tired. "Try and stay awake for a bit longer Danny. Your mother will be able to take care of you better than I can. I am not sure if you have any other injuries I didn't notice in the café," Jake tells me._

_The traffic this evening seems to be on our side which makes Jake feel a little bit calmer about the situation even though it is not a good situation to be in the first place. Then again not many people can currently afford to own cars so there will not be many cars on the road. Father has a car, but he does not let anyone else get in it. He does not want any passengers in his so called pride and joy. It makes my mom mad because it would be helpful to have the car to go and get the groceries once a week, so we don't have to make several trips to the grocery store every week because we can't carry everything in one load. My mother might borrow the car one day when my father is not around, so she can get the groceries._

_I was starting to feel pain all over and I am starting to feel a bit light-headed. "Just try and stay awake a little longer Danny. We are nearly at your home I promise," Jake tells me, looking at me while the traffic light is red. "I'm trying to, I don't remember the last time he beat me this bad," I tell him, which might not have been the best decision in terms of timing. It's almost like I have no filter between my brain and my mouth. Jake will be worrying about me more until we are at my mother's house and he knows I am safe with her and my older sister. It takes a few minutes for us to get through the traffic to reach my house. Mother was waiting by the front door as Jake helped me walk up the pathway. I tried to bear some of my own weight, but my mother took hold of my other arm and helped me into the cot bed that is in the living room._

_It is a permanent fixture since Jorel stays over so often. It was just easier to have it up and keep it up because Jorel enjoys being spontaneous about coming over and staying the night and it was easier. It's not the comfiest bed in the world, but I know I can not manage the stairs right now. I briefly close my eyes as the light-headed feeling gets worse, probably worrying people in the room. "Danny can you hear me?" Lisa Marie, my older sister asks me. I open my eyes and look at her, she was next to my head and playing with my hair. Mom is talking to Jake still, so she will know exactly what my "father" did to me this evening. I feel so comfy with her hand in my hair, my sister always calms me down and is so gentle._

"_Try and keep him awake Lisa, from the looks of it and what I have been told he has hit head quite hard and the last thing I want is to lose my youngest kid to a concussion," I hear mom tell my sister. Lisa Marie was checking my head to see if I have any injuries that are worth knowing about there. "You have a nice little bruise on the left side," she tells me. My sister was always honest with me. I wince when she touches it and then she finds other one not too far behind. "I am pretty sure that there will be more where that comes from, I know my ribs are a bit messed up," I tell her, being honest because they will find out anyways. I know mother will be doing a thorough head to toe check on me when she is done talking to Jake. _

"_I can not freaking believe your father has done this so publicly and that he would even consider this," my mother tells us both. I could believe it, he is always wild and crazy, and he was going to want more attention eventually. She walks over to us and she has her first aid kit with her. "He was bound to do it eventually mother, it was just a question of when he was going to do it," I tell her. She knows what the catalyst was for it after she spoke to Jake who mentioned what happened when the café closed today. She puts her fingers of my wrist to check my pulse. "I know Danny, but someone saw him do it now which could get him in a lot of trouble now. You have Dylan to back you up if you ever go to the police about this which you have every right to do," she tells me. _

"_Jake told me that you have joined up with the army, when are you leaving baby?" mother asks me, neither of them seem angry right now. I guess they knew it was coming and they knew I would use it as a safe way to escape what I go through on a daily basis. "Two days from now hopefully," I tell her, I only say hopefully because I want to live long enough to do that. I might not be well enough to do it and that would crush me. The light headed feeling I have has never really gone away the entire time mother was doing checks on me. "It is okay, just rest now Danny. We will be here to look after you now," Lisa Marie tells me, playing with my hair again. Then my vision fades to black as I pass out on the cot bed._

_**I hope you enjoyed this new story! I know this seems to be long, but most of the chapters will be as I have drafted this out at eleven pages per chapter and I have really enjoyed writing this!**_

12 Page


	2. Chapter 2

_**Welcome to chapter 2**_

_**BTW if you see CSM it means Command Sergeant Major.. when I wrote this out I knew I was not going to be writing this out in full.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**Back on the train ~ January 12**__**th**__**, 1917 – Private Danny Murillo's point of view**_

"That is all I can remember from that day," I tell them both. Dylan knows from the attack part to me leaving the café. Jorel knows nothing about what happened that day, but he knows some of the aftermath. "You were out of it for the whole of yesterday, your mother panicked quite a bit until you woke up really late in the evening," Jorel says. That makes sense to me, I don't really remember anything from yesterday. Dylan squeezes my shoulder for comfort, it is good to know he cares about me too and they are more at ease now I seem to be doing fine. "Yeah, my father thought that he had killed me. I just did not respond to anything at all," I tell them. It was a weird day yesterday for sure, mother didn't even really want me to get on the train earlier, but Jorel assured her enough that I was going to be looked after.

No one else on the train has heard my café story which is good for me. I don't really want everyone on the train to know my father has beaten me up and that he does it quite regularly. The guys I have just made friends with might not even know for a while. "I went over yesterday like I said because your mother freak out and you just stayed unconscious on the cot bed all day. Nothing could have woken you up. I do remember you had a high fever that day too," Jorel tells me, I remember that I woke up briefly a couple of times and felt all clammy and stuff. "That's probably because he got me with his belt on my back and they might get infected," I tell him. I have no doubt he puts stuff on his belt when he wants to hit me with it. He loves causing me pain.

Rigo's gonna look after you when we get there and help you I am sure of it," Jorel tells me. I have no doubt when Rigo finds out what happened that he would be looking after me. We should really go back to sleep. Rigo told me that travelling to the camp takes at least two days and we are only on day one right now from what I know. We had lunch, but not dinner or breakfast which leads me to believe that we are still on day one. I yawn, I'm very tired even though I slept for most of the day yesterday. "We should get some more sleep, we have another day of travelling left before we get there," I tell them, and I rest my head on Jorel's shoulder. I love cuddling up with Jorel before falling asleep on him.

"Another day? How will we cope like this?" Dylan says, being a little bit over dramatic which I have come to learn that is his personality. I chuckle and so does Jorel. "We will be fine Dylan, we will be fed and given water while we are travel," I tell him. When I look to my friend Jorel a few minutes later and my older friend is now fast asleep, but he is holding me protectively. It didn't take long after our conversation ends for Dylan to fall asleep, leaving me the only who is awake on the train who is not one of the officers at the end of the carriage to keep an eye on us. I don't mind being the only one awake out of the group of friends that we have. I am used to being, the insomniac out of the group too.

Jordon woke up about two minutes after Dylan has fallen asleep. Well, I assumed that a couple of minutes have passed. He notices that I am the only one awake out of our friends. "Danny, have you been awake the entire time?" Jordon asks me, I think he is quite concerned for me. Jorel has rested his head against mine in his sleep but I am still comfortable enough to fall asleep on my own. "Yeah, well I had a couple of minutes of sleep earlier, but that was it really," I tell him before yawning again. I want sleep so bad, but at the same time I don't want to have a nightmare, wake the whole train up and be embarrassed. "You should get some sleep Danny," Jordon tells me. I am not taking my own advice here that's for sure.

I think about it for another few minutes, there really is not anything that I can do on the train by myself. Sure, Jordon is up right now, but he might want to go back to sleep himself. "I guess I should, I'm just worried if I start having a nightmare that someone should wake me up before I scream or something," I tell him. I hope he takes a hint and if he is awake when I have a nightmare that he would be able to help me out. He gives me a sympathetic smile. "Sure thing, I will wake you if you start. Just one thing I wanna know first, is there anything going on between you and Jorel?" he asks me. I smile at him before shaking my head. "We are just really good friends, we have known each other since we were babies," I tell him. I am bi-sexual, but people believe it is wrong to like both men and women. I should just like women.

He seemed to have either run out of things to say or he saw me struggling to keep my eyes open as I get more exhausted. I am going to use this as my opportunity to get some rest now while the train is quiet and everything. "Night Jordon," I mumble, even though I know it might not actually be the night time right now. Nobody can really tell whether it is day or night. They have kinda of modified some cattle trucks to transport the soldiers from wherever they come from to the base camp. "Night Danny," Jordon replies. I drift off to sleep moments later. Hopefully I can sleep without having any nightmares.

_**A few hours later – Private Danny Murillo's point of view**_

Jordon is shaking my shoulder as I wake up. I felt someone shaking me in my dream and it must have been him. "You were having a nightmare Danny," Jordon says, I felt so glad that he did decide to wake me up. I can remember bits and pieces of the dream and it was not pleasant to say the least. "Thanks for waking me up Jordon," I tell him, while I am rubbing my eyes. Jorel and the others are still fast asleep which is good. They need their rest. I didn't want to wake Jorel up for comfort, he needs to sleep. "How long was I asleep for?" I ask, wondering if it was for the same brief time as earlier. I felt a bit better rested, so I doubt it. He just shrugs at me. "I think it was longer than earlier," he tells me. I forgot for a brief moment that we have no way of knowing what the time is.

"Do you need any more sleep at the moment?" I ask him, no point saying his name because he is the only one I am speaking to. "I will be okay, I think we have a while left of traveling so I might sleep again. We have time to sleep when we get there too," Jordon replies. He was not privy to the conversation I had with Jorel and Dylan about the travel earlier, but if he wants to know I will tell him we arrive sometime tomorrow, and the officers have watches on them, so we could always ask if we need to. "Yeah, from what Rigo has told me we start training the morning after we arrive," I tell him. Since they know about my brother they know that I am a bit more knowledgeable on what the training is. "Your brother will want to see you when we get there won't he?" Jordon asks, and I nod at him.

"He will, he might be a little angry with me though," I tell him. He looked a little shocked by that. We have only known each other a few hours and I am not quite willing to tell him my life story, but I will tell him anything about my life that I am comfortable with sharing. "Why would he be angry at you? Shouldn't he be happy that he gets to see you again?" Jordon asks me. I let out a little sigh, why did my family life have to be so damn complicated? "He doesn't like how things are at home. He also didn't really want me to sign up for this. He would have preferred it if I could stay at home where everything was safer because I am the youngest," I tell him. I hope that Jordon won't ask further about how things are at home.

He will probably learn eventually what my father is really like. They all will, it is inevitable that he will do something that will bring the abuse to the spotlight. Since I don't really know Jordon right now, I don't really want him to know too much information about my personal life right now. I am sure he feels the same way about his personal life. I am quite surprised that I have not said anything in my sleep about the abuse. All though, I have been known to speak in weird sort of fragmented sentences in my sleep where you can only hear one word clearly. Mother has said that she has heard me talking in my sleep after a stressful day, but I don't really make much sense.

"Don't worry Danny, I do not wish to pry on your personal life," he tells me. I smile, I am liking this guy a lot already. I like him, Matt and Dylan already. They have been so nice from the moment we met, but I am being a little cautious in case they decide to be nasty later on. "Thanks Jordon, I am sure you will find out more in time," I tell him. He also smiles at me. I am beginning to trust him a lot more now although I am not sure if I can fully trust him right now. "You're welcome Danny. You can always change your mine later if you don't want to tell me," he says. At least there is no pressure on me to tell him. He is right, I could always change my mind at a later date if I suddenly think that it is too risky for me to say that I have been abused by my father since I was a year old. That was about twenty years ago now.

"I feel like everyone will find out eventually though," I tell him. There are a couple of possible ways of them finding out. My brother might make a report to the police on what our so -called father has done to the three sons he has. Then me might just suddenly show up one day, discover that I am here and not dead like he suspects me to be and all hell might break loose. "Don't worry Danny, we will all be here for you," he tells me. It is weird that someone who I barely know will look after me like they have known me for years, but it is a good kind of weird. "Thanks Jordon, I appreciate that," I tell him, being one hundred percent honest with the older guy. He gets up to squeeze my shoulder and then sits down again. "No worries Danny, you are a nice, kind and caring person and you at least deserve this if not more," Jordon tells him, that is really nice of him to say. No one other than Jorel and the staff at the café have been that nice.

"I have always been that way, sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. It all depends on the type of person you are dealing with. I need to make some new friends who I can trust both on and off the battlefield. We will get there eventually, it is just a question of when, we need America to declare war on Germany first then we will be deployed. I know that I can use my knowledge of the army life to help other people out who might struggle. I also know that being the son of a captain and the younger brother of two high ranking officers can bring me some trouble that I don't really want right now. They will want to try and take advantage of me and see what they can get away with in terms of how much trouble they can cause.

I need to be smart at all times, I can not let people bully me into helping them. I do not stand for bullies and I will not let the get away with what they want with me. My family are very smart and cunning people and I need to show that I am the same as them. Jorel wakes up while there was a silence in mine and Jordon's conversation. He knows I am awake and he is worried. "Don't worry Jorel, he has slept for a while," Jordon says, it's okay for him to fill my best friend in on what happened while he was asleep. Jorel rubs my shoulder before he rubs his eyes. "Thanks for keeping an eye on him Jordon," Jorel tells our new friend. He would have stayed up and kept an eye on me if he was not so tired himself.

"It is fine Jorel, I stopped him from having a nightmare too," he replies. Jorel looks to me, to figure out if the other male is telling the truth or not. "It's true, the nightmare didn't get as bad as it usually does," I tell him. Jorel smiles at Jordon. I think it gave him peace of mind that I will be looked after while he sleeps. "I am sure Danny has said this already but, thank you Jordon. We are going to need friends is we are to survive this war," Jorel says. Jordon does seem to be very shocked by Jorel's statement. However, Jorel and I both know we will end up joining my older brother Kyle on the frontlines. It is inevitable, the allies will need our help and there is only so long a country can avoid being dragged into the biggest war ever known to man. The Great war is one horrible war and the government has been trying to stay out of it for as long as they possibly can. I can't see it lasting much longer though.

"Do you really think that we will go on the frontlines?" Jordon asks me. I will admit that it is a bit of a scary subject to talk about at first. I shrug at Jordon, since we haven't declared war I don't really know. "I have heard the allies are doing quite well, we might be back up if they need it. I don't think we will though," I tell him. I don't want the morale to be low this early on no matter how much I know about the from what my brothers have said and the stories which have been coming from the frontlines, so far. Kyle has some interesting stories to tell, he's even been learning French which is quite interesting to learn. He's even been teaching me some basic words, I love learning new languages and more about cultures from different countries.

"Danny's right, we have to trust the allies and what they are capable of doing. They will have our backs if we have theirs," Jorel says. We don't say anything else about the war after that. "Why did you join the army then Jordon?" Jorel asks. We are probably going to share a wooden billet during training, so we need to be friends and get along or else this isn't going to end well. Well, I am assuming that they will group us together based on where we stand when the briefing happens. I would like to know why the others have joined up. They know why I have joined so it is only fair that I learn why they want to join they arm and fight in the war.

"I want to fight for my country. My grandfather kept saying that it is the best thing a young man can do for his country. He also said that if he was young enough to sign up then he would be he knows that he is old now," Jordon tells me. I guess a lot of people are going to give us the same reason that Jordon has. It also makes sense that people would do it for that reason, more people have respect for you when they know you were a soldier who fought a great battle like the great war. Even if you don't come home the respect is still there. "Fair enough, you do gain more respect if you do it. I know no matter what happens that your grandfather would be proud of you," Jorel says, making Jordon smile. I wish I had a grandfather to talk to, he died when I was one I believe. I was obviously too young to know him properly.

The officers walk around and hand everyone who is awake their rations of food and water for a meal. Those who are still sleeping will get theirs when they wake up. It is part of the officers duty to look after us while we are on this train. Jorel puts two pills into my hand when the officer isn't looking. "Those should help with the pain," he whispers to me. I quickly take them and wash them down with some water. The officer didn't suspect a thing which was great for me. Not that anything would happen once I explained it was pain medication because I got in an incident before I got on the train. They didn't need to know the full story, just enough of one to justify the need for me to take medication.

One of the things I know I want to do while I am at the training camp is spend more time with Rigo, my older brother. Preferably I would like some one on one time with him, but I will accept any time. I suppose we will have time during the breaks. There is a possibility though that they find out about my injuries and then send me home. I don't want to go back home though. If I go back then I am going back to the countless daily beatings. To me, going home is like signing a warrant for my own death. No doubt if I get any time alone with my dad then he will kill me. No on would be able to stop him in time or save my life when that happens. He will want to kill me, so he can keep me silent. No one will know what happened once I'm dead.

Rigo might convince them to let me stay at the training camp. I might even get some time off training to recover properly, something which I have never been able to do usually. I just suffer through the pain and get on with it. He knows just how dangerous it would be for me if I was to go home for whatever reason. It would be obvious to him that I joined the army even if I changed out of my uniform. I am not in Los Angeles anymore, I am not sure where we are or where the exact location of the camp is. The only conclusion he can make other than me dying from the beating two or three days ago is that I have snuck off to join the army. He won't like that one bit, I can feel it deep within my bones.

My father was not around when I woke up later the next day. He could think that I am dead now, my mother and sister are good actresses and they could pull it off successfully. Regardless, all those scenarios can only happen if they were all to find out about the beating I had. Mother could have phoned Rigo, to tell him what has been going on since he left home. They have phoned each other pretty much every week at least once if I remember correctly. We are still on the train for a little while longer, that means I can be paranoid about it now and worry properly about it later, when we actually get there.

I think we might have possibly entered the next day. I know it was late afternoon on the twelfth when we got onto the train, so the meal we had must have been dinner. This seems more like breakfast food, so I think it is the thirteenth now. The only way I could know for sure is if I asked an officer what the day was. I don't think I want to do that right now. The food isn't great, it's obviously cold because we have no way of heating it up. I think there was something that vaguely resembled an egg in the sandwich we were given, and the biscuits were nice though. I barely notice Jorel wrapping his arm around me and squeezing my shoulder. I'm lost in my thoughts again, I think he knows it because he was being gentle.

"So, have you lived in Los Angeles all your life then?" Jordon asks Jorel and I. It made me jump since I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation. I am wondering what they were talking about before they asked me. "I definitely have, I am not sure about Danny though. I can't really speak to him," Jorel tells me. Then Jorel gently nudges me which also caused me to jump. "I've lived in Los Angeles for my whole life as well, I have been on holiday to see family in Costa Rica a few times," I reply. Jordon seemed to notice that I had zoned out before the question was asked. I hope I haven't worried anyone with what happens. Sometimes I don't realise that I zone out quite frequently until someone tells me about it.

"What were you thinking about?" Jordon asks me. They already know a little bit about how bad things are at home just because I mentioned it earlier that things are bad at home. Jordon does know that I am not willing to share too much information with him yet. "Just kind of how much I don't want to be home right now," I reply, being honest with the slightly older male. Jorel holds me tighter, still being mindful of the injuries I told him about earlier. He knows how bad it is back at home, but he has never heard me say that I don't want to go back home before now. "I don't see any reason why you would be sent home Danny," Jordon tells me. He said it with a bit of confusion in his tone. He still does not know what went on, so he will be confused.

I will probably tell him, Dylan and Matt what really went on when we get to the camp and we know each other a bit better. It would be in a more private setting as well which would be a bonus for me. "I'll explain later, now is not really the best time or place to do it," I tell him, and he accepts it. I am going to keep to my word. He trusts me, and I do not want to destroy the trust and bond that has formed between the two of us. I think that Matt and Dylan trust me too. Well I know I basically owe Dylan my life for what he did in the café for me. I like that the trust between us is not forced and it has been naturally gained. We will be good friends in no time I am sure of it.

Dylan was the next one to wake up and when the officer noticed, he was given his food rations for this morning. Dylan smiled at me and the others as a way of a greeting before he started tucking into his food. We all have quite a bit of water left even though we know we will be given some more later on in the day. "Did you manage to get any sleep at all Danny? Dylan asks me, and I give him a small smile. "I managed to get a few hours of sleep before a nightmare started," I tell him, being honest with the younger guy. I know now they are going to help me through this and I am going to be okay by the end of my time with them. They have accepted me with all the baggage that I have attached to me which is unusual, but I was going to accept it.

"Don't worry Danny, we will help you get through this I promise," Dylan tells me. I am glad that the other people on the train don't pay attention to the other conversations going on around them. I don't want them to know all over my conversations that I have. I was wondering about how my brothers are doing. I know very soon I will be able to see Rigo. I also know what he has been up to because he is at the camp we are going to. My other brother Kyle, who is also older than I am is working in the army, but I don't know where exactly he has been deployed to. I can't wait until I can see my brothers again, even though it might a while with Kyle. I might never see Kyle again, I just don't know these things.

"Do you think that Rigo will know where Kyle is based?" I ask Jorel, after I finally accept the support from the new friends that I have made. "Yeah, he knows that you are coming here so I am sure that he will know where they sent Kyle to," Jorel tells me. I just hope that my brothers are feeling better than I am right now. Dylan squeezes my shoulder and Jordon hugs me after Dylan was done. These guys are already helping me out so much and we have barely known each other. I feel happy right now, I know this is the support that I have been missing in my life. I always had the support from Jake and Jorel, but other than them I didn't really have any friends I could rely upon in times of need.

I really hope that my father does not hurt my sister now that I am not there. I know father has told everyone that he is not going to hit her. I am not sure that he will keep that promise now. He could have just said it to make everyone feel better. All of his sons are not around to hit now, so there is no one he could take his anger out on. The temptation to take his anger out on the first person he sees will be too strong. As far as I know we have no punching the bags in the house. Then again he could have bought one and hidden it somewhere. He could have even used one of the potato sacks and filled it with sand from the beach if he became that desperate. We don't live too far away from a beach, so he could do it.

This makes me feel incredibly guilty about leaving home. I had to do it for my own safety, but at the same time I am putting the life of my sister at risk. I really don't want my sister to go through the same hell I have gone through these last twenty years. I bite my lip to stop myself from breaking down in tears in front of all these people. I felt Jorel tap a beat on my leg, it works to calm me down sometimes. "Your sister is going to be fine, I know she will be," Dylan whispers to me. It takes me a minute to remember that he knows a lot more about the situation I am in than Matt or Jordon do. "How did you?" I ask him, still struggling to understand how exactly he knew. "Your father beats you, I knew that one of the things that would come into your mind is if he would go for her while you are gone and not there to take the beating for her," he whispers. That actually makes a lot of sense to me. Jorel knows I have this fear as well. It also applies to my mother, but when I think of her I see her hitting him with her pan.

"Your father will end up in prison or jail before the end of this war. Rigo will report him, or someone else will," Jorel tells me quietly. It did reassure me a little bit, I am still going to worry about my sister and my mother for a while. I will be fine once I know for sure that they are fine and they my father has never laid a finger on them in the way that he has done with me and my brothers. I want them to be okay and to be out of harm's way for as long as possible. The only way that they could ever be free of him is if he goes on the frontlines, but he doesn't deserve to die with dignity after everything that he has done. I lean against Jorel, I am feeling exhausted at the moment. I know the beating I went through is going to take a while to heal from.

I am also still struggling with the cold, so I was using my energy to stay as warm as possible and see if Jorel could be my human heater. "Are you still cold Danny?" Jorel asks me. I have started shivering again, but I know it was not as violent as I was shivering earlier. "A little bit yeah," I tell him, and he starts rubbing my arm to use friction to warm me up. "Maybe putting a little bit of weight on might help you with the cold," Jorel tells me. He's right, it would be a good idea to put some weight on, I am a bit on the skinny side. "I know, I just don't think I will be able to do it right away," I tell him. Matt was the last one to wake up and he was given his food and water for the morning. He gave us a good morning wave before he started eating his food.

Jordon was watching me fight against another nap while Jorel was hugging me. The two days of travel are technically sleep now because it's going to be busy when we get there, and you will need that rest. I want to sleep like the rest of them, but the nightmares will always haunt me. "Danny, we will keep an eye on you. If you do have a nightmare then you will be woken up before it gets too bad," Jorel says, I know when he makes a promise like that he will keep it. He also hugs me quite tightly. I don't mind it when he hugs me, even though it did nothing to lull me into sleep. I know I am exhausted, but maybe I can get to know my new friends a bit more before I do get some more rest. The shivering is slowly getting back to where it was when I first met Jordon and Matt.

Jordon gets his bag from underneath the bench which is our seating arrangement. He opens the bag, well aware that everyone is watching him with curiosity. He takes one of his spare coats out of it and passes it to Jorel. "Put this on Danny, it should help you warm up a little more," he tells me. It was very generous of him to make the offer. I was about to politely decline the coat, but then Jorel puts it on me whether I liked it or now and then lets me keep resting against him. "Thanks Jordon, I will give it back to you when we get there," I tell him. I honestly wanted to give him the coat back there and then.

Soon I start feeling nice and warm and Jordon was smirking at me. I was still debating in my head whether or not I should take it off and give it back to him. Then after having a mini argument in my head for a minute I realised that he was just going to hand it back to Jorel and then he would do the same thing and it would go in a circle. I am feeling really comfy with Jorel's arms around me. I feel safe and secure for the first time in my life. Nothing can get me here, I am well protected. Jorel wants to keep me safe too.

There are roughly eighteen months between Jorel and I being born, however we have never acted like we were born that far apart. We have always acted like we have been twins right from when I was about a year old according to my mother. She always said how Jorel would make sure I was included in almost everything he did when we were together growing up. It's the same now, if he is going out then he will include me, so I could get a couple of hours respite from the hell at home. We have been joined at the hip for as long as I can remember. People would always say if they saw either one of us out in public then they knew the other one was not too far behind.

I do not wish to be rude to Jordon when he has been so nice to me since we met a day or so ago. It is really freaking difficult to gauge how much time has passed. Dylan has also been nice to me since we met in the alleyway on the day the café closed. Matt also seems to be very nice, but I need to get to know him a little more first since he is quiet and shy like I am. "So, you have a big family then Danny?" Matt asks me, he knows about my three siblings from the conversations we have had on the train so far. I know families that are a lot bigger than mine. Jorel has more siblings then I have for sure. I don't think they know that yet. Jorel doesn't really talk a lot about his family because he is away from them so often.

"I guess so, I mean I am the youngest of four children and then there is my mother or father. I am sure that there are bigger families out there," I tell him, keeping Jorel's family info private because I remember how uncomfortable he was when his family was mentioned in the past. It was a little weird to admit and have it said again that I am the youngest in my family. All these guys that I have met seem like they are either the eldest child or an only child. "That is alright then, I have one younger sister at home," Matt tells me. I know Jorel is a middle child. I think Dylan is an only child and Jordon might be the same. I am not sure though, I am just guessing at this point. I do feel a bit too nervous to ask them.

I was enjoying the conversation after that. I prefer these kinds of conversations instead of the ones about the war. We decided to change the topic to talk about times that they have been drunk and what they get up to while they have been drunk. Since I have only recently turned twenty-one I have no stories to tell anyone. I have never been drunk once in my life and nor do I plan on getting drunk anytime soon. My father has put me off for life. Luckily for me, the others have plenty to tell about their times since they are all older. I knew most of Jorel's stories since I have always met up with him either during the night or the morning after and he tells me what he is able to remember. If he doesn't remember then we fill in the blanks with the first thing that we could come up with. It usually ends up being hilarious.

Dylan has a few good stories to tell me and the others. He spoke of how he once ended up on a train to Mexico while he was on a night out. He had no idea how he got the money to get there, but the train driver was kind enough to get him back home. All it cost Dylan in the end was a mega hangover and a smack off his mother. It was an amazing story and it was hilarious. I knew Dylan could get away with this sort of thing since he is the richest one out of the five of us and he does have the money to burn if he so choses. I still can't get over how he managed to get onto the train as drunk as he was on that night. It does kinda make me a bit more nervous about having alcoholic drinks myself, but I don't know what the future brings.

Dylan said that he had spent most of his money on booze. Jordon said he once ended up with two men and two women in bed during a night out. He wasn't keen on saying that he was in bed with a man out loud in case someone was eavesdropping on us. A fivesome though is not something to ignore no matter who it was with. It shows that you are capable of getting laid even if you are tipsy or smashed when it happens. I do believe Jordon mentioned he was smashed when this whole thing went down. It was again another funny story, Matt doesn't have many stories to tell because he says he is not much of a drinker. I think I am going to be a bit like Matt when it comes to drinking alcohol.

I told them that I had only recently turned twenty-one, so I told them that I have no stories to tell about any adventures that could have happened when I was drunk, and I have never drunk alcohol in my life. Thy were fine with that and said that when we get home they would take me out on a night out and we are going to have the time of our lives. I'm not sure when we will be able to do it though. Who knows how life is going to be when the war is finally over, most countries involved have been struggling through these last three years of a war. Who knows how many more years we will all be involved in this. I have forgotten what the cause was, something to do with one country murdering someone from a nearby country or something like that.

Jorel gives me a new drunk story, one I haven't heard before. It was from the night that my "father" attacked me. I am fully aware that the most likely place my father would have been after he hurt me was a pub or a bar. What I didn't know until now was that he got himself so drunk that he had started hitting on Jorel and flirting with him. Jorel decided to have some fun and flirt back with my father. My father didn't recognize Jorel at all during this which made it a little more hilarious to me. Well, I only started to see the funny side after I had gotten over the initial shock of the whole thing. If only I had the relationship with my father to have fun with it.

"Wait, so my father flirted with you the other night? I ask, showing how much, I didn't believe him at that moment. Dylan nearly fell off the bench because he was laughing so hard. I was still very exhausted, but I had to know more about what went on between my father and my best friend. "Yeah, I think he didn't recognise me because I had just cut my hair and it was kinda dark. If he had realised it was me then maybe it would have gone differently," Jorel says. He wasn't phased by all the new people who were listening to his story now. I would feel a bit humiliated if everyone on the train knew who my father is and what he has done, but I know most of the people don't know my father. No one other than Jorel and Dylan know what he has done who are on the train.

Soon Jorel's story is over and he looked at me. I saw how concerned he is for me when he was looking at me. "Are you feeling okay Danny? You have gone really pale?" he asks me. I give him a weak smile, it's the best smile that I can do now. "I'm feeling okay now, just feeling a little light headed that's all," I tell him, being honest with Jorel. He knows when I have lied to him, so there is no need to lie to him. I decide to drink a bit more of my water to see if that would help me feel a little better. Jorel decided that he needs to keep a very close eye on me from now on just in case I feel any worse during the day. He puts his hand on my forehead to see if I have a fever and I love the comfort he is giving me right now.

"You have not got a fever right now, so I don't think that the jacket needs to come of just yet," Jorel tells me. The people who listening to Jorel's drunken story before were now talking to other people. I let Jorel play with my hair for a bit, which has also calmed me down a little bit. "Maybe Danny should try and sleep for a little bit. He might feel a bit better once he has slept a little more," Matt suggests. That is a good suggestion for me right now. Dylan hands me one of his ration pack biscuits that he was currently eating. "Eat this first Danny, it might also help you feel better," Dylan tells me, and I eat it straight away. I ate my biscuits before Dylan woke up and I now think that I should have saved mine, so I could eat them now.

I didn't really feel any better, but I feel happy that I have someone looking out for me. The biscuit tasted a lot better than mine which is weird. I am pretty sure they were the same ones that Dylan had. Maybe I am starting to go a little crazy. Maybe they did taste the same as the ones I had. I thanked him for the biscuit then he gave me a hug as if to say you're welcome. Matt also offered me a biscuit which Jorel encouraged me to accept. Maybe my pack of biscuits tasted weird to me because of the fever or something. At this point I really don't have an idea what's going on with me at the moment. That beating has really taken its toll on my body. I wish this feeling would stop and I could feel like normal, like everyone else would feel.

"Do you feel any better Danny?" Jorel asks me, it has been a few minutes after I finished the biscuits. I was leaning against him while I try and get rid of this light-headed feeling that doesn't seem to want to leave. "To be honest with you I don't really feel any better," I answer. Jorel frowns and holds me a little tighter than he did before. "Maybe you're feeling this way because of the nasty fall you had the day before yesterday," Dylan says, when he started talking, I almost held my breath. I was so happy that he came up with something that covered up what really happened to me. the other two don't suspect a thing and seem to buy my story. I don't currently want them to know what happened. It is a bit embarrassing.

"You never told us you had a fall Danny," Jordon tells me. All of my new friends look at me. Matt and Jordon wanted to know for sure, Dylan and Jorel already knew the true story. I am sure they will help with the fake one though. "I was involved in a minor accident before we left for camp, I think it was two days before," I tell them. They seem to be a little shocked. I know I have left a lot of details out, but I can pretend my memory is quite fuzzy from that day. "We didn't think it was going to bother him this much. I do think he has hit his head quite hard too," Dylan tells them. Jorel carries on playing with my hair which was sort of putting me to sleep. I wanted to stay awake, but I knew if I said anything then it would be overruled by Jorel.

My father hit my head when he attacked me, so I am bound to be suffering a head injury of some sort. "I don't think Danny has a concussion though, I wouldn't have let him sleep for long if he did," Jorel tells Matt. Matt was making me follow his finger with my eyes to check for one. "True, I just wanted to double check, can never be too careful with these types of things," Matt replies. He was right though, you could never be too careful when it comes to head injuries. If they didn't do those checks on me and I did have a concussion, then it would be bad and have bad consequences for me. I know that I will be fine in a few days when I recover from what my father has done. Its just the first few days which are the worst.

The light-headed feeling starts to get a lot worse. I know that we don't have too much longer to wait before we can get off the train because we will have arrived by then. Then I can have my reunion with Rigo that I have been waiting so long for. I can't wait, I have been counting the days since he left, I thought he was going to come home first, but that's just not the way its gone. My vision goes white for a moment and it was one of the scariest moment of my life. I fell forwards, but Jorel quickly caught me and held me upright. If he was worried before, then he was going to be extremely worried for me now. The white vision slowly started to fade now which had made me feel a little bit better now even though I am still really unwell.

"Are you sure you feel okay Danny? Jorel asks when it finally stops being white. "Yeah, I am fine," I tell him. I know I am lying to him and it is going to bite me in the ass in a little while. Having said that, despite the light-headed feeling I did feel okay otherwise at that moment in time. I rest my head on Jorel's shoulder again and let him rub my chest a little bit to see if that would help me. It didn't really help with any of my symptoms expect for my anxiety. I feel calm whenever Jorel comforts me which is something I hope continues. "I'm glad you're comfy there Danny," Jorel comments after a couple of minutes. "You make a good cushion that's why," I tell him, being cheeky in hopes to reassure him that I am okay.

It worked for as long as I was on this good health stretch. It didn't last for too long though. I was feeling worse, but I wanted to keep it from Jorel. I know it's a rapid decline in my health, but I hate worrying him. He has been there for me from every beating I have ever suffered at the hands of my father and for once I wanted to give him the night off. Let him make new friends so when my father eventually kills me then he could have some new people who will love and cherish his company as I have done since day one. I really want to tell Jorel how I am getting worse with the way I am feeling right now, but no words are coming out. I'm not going to panic though because that would make Jorel worse. Just after I think that it all goes dark.

_**Private Jorel Decker's point of view**_

Just a couple of minutes ago Danny told me he was fine. I stupidly believed him because now my best friend's eyes have just rolled into the back of his head and he fell forward. I think he has fainted or something. Jordon has good reflexes as he helps me catch Danny before he hits the cold floor of the train carriage. I work with Jordon to get the spare jacket off Danny's small frame to get him a little cooler despite how cold the train is already. He could have gotten too warm and that's why he passed out. One of the officers saw what happened and quickly walked over. I believe it is Command Sergeant Major Ragan. "What happened?" CSM Ragan asks us. Jordon looked to me, he was too nervous to speak to the officer. "Private Murillo fainted sir," I answer, praying that Danny's tips have paid off. I got it right, he was high enough rank to need to be called sir and I have to call Danny by his rank now.

He checked Danny's pulse and breathing. Thankfully it was one of those moments where everyone, including Matt were asleep. I know Jordon and Dylan along with CSM Ragan would keep this private. This is the last thing Danny needs right now. "His pulse is steady, and his breathing is good. Just have to keep an eye on him for the rest of the journey," CSM Ragan says, then helps Jordon get Danny laying across mine and Dylan's laps so he isn't on the floor anymore. CSM Ragan instructed me to keep an eye on Danny's breathing by putting my ear to my friend's mouth every now and then to feel his breath on my ear and to call for him if anything should change. The only thing he didn't say was if they were going to send Danny home because of this or not.

They want the fittest people to join the army and right now Danny is not showing that he is in a fit state. I run my fingers through Danny's messy golden brown hair. He didn't respond to anything, it was like the other day when I was at his house and his mom was explaining what the bastard did to him. "I doubt Rigo is going to let them send his brother home Jorel. Not with what we know is going on," CSM Ragan says. I have to think for a minute how the fuck he would know that much. Then I realise he is George Ragan, a good friend of Danny and I. He went to high school with Rigo and they are close. "I know, but this is the worst I have ever seen him George, it scares me," I quietly admit. Now that Danny's somewhat out of danger Jordon fell asleep with Matt. Danny is still quite deeply unconscious at this moment and it worries me a lot. George touches Danny's forehead in a caring way.

We finally start getting a response after he does that for a couple of minutes. Danny moved his head to the side to try and get away from George's cold hand. It was barely any movement, but it was better than no movement at all. Maybe Danny will be awake in a minute or two and he will bee feeling a little better and we can help him get through the rest of the train journey before we arrive at camp where I have no about he will be making the first of many trips to medical. "It's going to be okay Danny," I tell him. I want him to feel comfortable and calm when he wakes up, unlike he did back at home. I was always going to help him whenever he needs me to.

Come one Danny, wake up buddy. I need you to wake up now.

12 | Page


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter three let's go**_

_**Just a friendly little reminder that this is an AU.. Also a majority of my military knowledge comes from the British Army Cadet Force which I was a part of for the best part of four+ years and my knowledge of American army ranks comes from the internet.**_

_**Enjoy**_

_**~ January 14**__**th**__**, 1917 – Private Danny Murillo's point of view**_

Everyone and I mean everyone in our friendship circle including CSM Ragan kept an eye on me after the fainting episode that I had yesterday. Jordon told me that he didn't want his jacket back, so I decided to use it as a blanket for myself. I woke up ten minutes after I had fainted with no memory of it happening. I think I asked Jorel how long I had slept for before he told me that I had fainted. Rigo would definitely worry about me even more now. If I managed to get Jorel and George worried then Rigo would definitely worry. George also gave me a bit of his rations on top oh mine just to make sure that I am okay and not about to faint again. They did mention I was pretty pale still from the fainting episode.

They do not want me to faint again which would be a repeat of yesterday. To be honest neither do I, it was horrible enough being on this train feeling sore and weak. It is truly the worst feeling in the world. We now only have a few hours left before we get to our destination according to George who has done this journey a few times. When we get there, I will find out if I will see Rigo at the station or at the camp itself. I am starting to get excited about seeing Rigo again. The last time I saw Rigo must have been the 25th of November 1915. I have admittingly counting the days since I last saw him. I did get a phone call on my 21st birthday from him though which is nice, because I knew he could not have been there for the actual day. He has been working so hard training people here, it's made mom proud.

It has now been, 1 year, 1 month and 21 days since the day he left home to be stationed at this base came. I guess I am a little weird for knowing the exact amount of days. However, I bet back home our mom is going to be counting for all three of us boys. She will pray everyday for our safe return once the war is over. Our sister Lisa-Marie will be praying too. I will be praying myself, that if I do survive that father is not around to kill me for leaving home against his wishes. That is if he does not end up in prison before the war is over. Knowing him as well as I do, he will end up there at least once, maybe twice before the war is out. He already messed up the day he last attacked me as Dylan was there watching. If I decided to take legal action against my father I could easily have my new friend back me up.

"Are you feeling okay today Danny?" George asks me, when he gives me my rations for the morning like everyone else gets. Well, I assume that it is the morning right now. We can't really tell whether it is day or night on this train carriage until we get to camp as this lacks any sort of windows. "Yeah, I am as good as I can by right now," I tell him. Then he gives me a portion of his rations on top of mine when a lot of the other people aren't looking. "You don't have to this George," I tell him. He crouches down in front of me. "I promised Rigo that I would keep an eye on you and I would look after you. I have the rations to spare anyway," he tells me, very seriously by the tone he spoke to me in. Of course, it would all come down to my older brother asking George to look after me when I was on the train, it always does.

Rigo has always been over protective of me, often taking the beatings for me when I was younger to spare me as many of the horrible experiences as he could. He knew as I grew older that it would not last forever and when he left for the army father decided to make up for the lost beatings Rigo protected me from growing up. Father was very angry that he had lost so many opportunities to unleash his anger on me because of Rigo being so protective. There was nothing I could have done about it because I knew that there was a chance of the school I went to finding out and asking some questions about my health which would have led to an investigation and us being removed from mother and father.

George and Rigo were joined at the hip when I was very young. So, this didn't really surprise me. I know Rigo would have worried a lot when he saw my name appear on the list of new recruits being trained for the frontlines. Then again, we both knew that my name would have appeared eventually. The army is a strange way for me and my brothers to escape what our father does to us when we are home. I think the whole extended time away from home this job brings is a huge bonus. Our mother is devastated that it must be this way. She cried when Rigo left for the first time and then again when Kyle left for the first time. She is probably crying over me right now. She could even tell our father that I have died or something to justify the tears. Not that mother really needs any reason, she's living through hell right now.

I managed to fall asleep not long after I had eaten my rations. Dylan was the one to wake me up this time, normally Jorel does it. It has been I don't know how long since the time I fell asleep to the time I woke up though. "We are here now Danny," he tells me. As I wake up more I can see people getting off the train. They are going to prepare us to get off by each carriage and then get us to start training by making us march for the first time for most up towards the camp. "I wonder if Rigo will be at the station," I tell Dylan and Jorel. I hope that I get to see Rigo again as soon as possible. "Knowing Rigo, he will definitely be here waiting for you," Jorel tells me. Then he hugs me as gently as he possibly can as the other people around us make their way towards the door that was now open. We got some strange looks, but I ignored them.

We waited until everyone in our carriage had got off before we walked towards the door. This was so I could get off with some help and not get stared at so much because they will be focusing on the orders that they are being given. I am not steady on my feet, sitting down for two days hasn't helped my symptoms. No one was looking at us though. Rigo was waiting as we expected at the station quite close to the middle of the train. He was in a car, but he got out as soon as he saw George. He walked over to me and hugged me carefully. "Danny I have missed you so much," Rigo tells me. I hugged him back with as much strength as I had. I am so glad that I can see him again. "I missed you too Rigo," I tell him.

I could tell just by looking at him that he was very worried about me. Rigo takes me to the car that he drove here in and that I first saw him in before he saw me. "I am going to look after you while you are here Daniel. I promised mother that I would as soon as she had told me that she knew you had signed up," he tells me. I knew mother would be making Rigo promise too. Rigo helps me get into the car. I have been told by George that I was deemed unfit to walk to camp after the fainting incident in case it happened again. None of the officers around us question this, I probably look like shit right now anyways. The order came from a high-ranking officer after discussions with me yesterday on the state of my health, I wasn't the only one who fainted either as there were multiple cars around. No one can refuse the order if it comes from someone with a higher rank than you.

I wince as I sit down on the semi comfy leather seat of the back of the car. I tried to make as little noise as possible but Rigo had already seen my discomfort. It was impossible to hide it from Rigo anyways, to him I have always been an open book and he could tell whenever I needed him whether it be for physical or emotional support. He always does it in a subtle way too. He never demands that he should help me. He always asks if he can help me relax or tend to any wounds that I might have. It is just the way he goes about things. Never once forces it, I am always accepting his help anyways. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain right now?" Rigo asks me.

Currently there are no other people in the car with us, it is just me and my older brother. "About a nine right now. It is the worst that I have felt for a long time," I tell him. I felt safe being honest with my brother. He puts his hand on my shoulder. "At least you are here now, and everything will be fine soon," he tells me. I am going to recover from my injuries and our father will not be able to hurt me for a long time to come. "I know, but he had the intentions to kill me that evening Rigo. Only I saw the pure rage in his eyes," I tell him. I was keeping the tears at bay for now, Rigo doesn't need to deal with me being a cry baby. I will cry if I need to later when I have some privacy. Rigo is going to panic because I mentioned how angry father was.

I can not been seen as weak in this state and so soon after arriving at camp. I will be a target for bullies for sure. I have to be strong and power through this. Another officer came to drive the car, so Rigo can sit in the back with me on the drive up to camp. Rigo plays with my hair on the drive, to comfort us both. "How do you feel about Danny being here Rigo?" the other officer asks. Rigo makes a loud sigh, I know he has mixed feelings about it. "I am glad he is here, so I can keep an eye on him and not worry. I am not one hundred percent sure this is the life for him though. He might not be war ready," Rigo explains. It is a fair comment for him to make, I have always been the one who showed least interest in the forced lessons.

He must be friends with the other officer obviously they do work together. He did not mention our father once though. I can completely understand why though, who wants to tell people that their father abuses them? The correct answer is no one. Also, he could pass this off as the caring older brother who knows about the threats we are under. I am completely relaxed under Rigo's touch and he smiles at me. "I don't think you have been this relaxed for ages Danny," he tells me. I give him another heart warming smile to cheer him up. I like spending time with him already and it has only been ten minutes since we could see each other again. I can't wait until we get to camp and have more time like this.

"Nope, I don't think I have ever been this relaxed if I am honest Rigo," I tell hm. It is very hard to be any level of relaxed around our father, so any time I get to be away from him like this then I will be relaxed. When I was in the café I couldn't be relaxed because father could walk in at any time. Rigo clearly enjoyed spending the time with me during the car ride to camp. I wish we could spend more time together. After this we can only do it when we both get breaks during the training sessions we have. "Don't forget Danny, you can report to medical if you start feeling worse. Or let one of the officers around you know," Rigo tells me. he wants me to be safe when he knows that he is not around to help me himself.

"I will go if I feel worse, don't worry Rigo," I tell him, and he grins at me. He knows that I will keep to my word. Jorel and George will definitely help me keep to my word too. I will have no choice in the matter. Maybe Dylan, Jordon and Matt will help me stick to this too. I do trust them all enough for them to remind me to go to the medical tent when I need to go. I wonder how they are all coping with the march up to camp. Most of them will not have done this before, marched anywhere with their luggage on their backs. They will be tired and probably sore by the time they get to the camp. I know I might get bullied because I was driven up. They will assume that because my older brother is an officer that is the reason why. They might not listen to the commanding officer who at the time didn't know who my brother was said I was unfit to walk to camp after the fainting episode I had on the train.

"Good, you know there is only so much I am allowed to do to help you even as your brother while we are here," he tells me. I had guessed even he would be limited on what he can do to help me out while we are here. I can't been seen as the favourite just because I have two siblings who are already high ranked and a father who is also high ranked. "He would have to go to make sure he gets pain medication when we arrive anyway," the driver says, making a fair point. I was ordered to get checked over when we got there. "Yeah true, I will make sure that he gets it," Rigo says. Then the car ride went silent as I looked at the view of the outside world from the window. I was taking in everything I saw. I know Rigo feels sorry for me, I don't know what the other officer would think though.

Rigo knows that I was the most sheltered child out of the four of us. I was the only child who spent a majority of their childhood locked inside the house or the back yard. I only left when I had school, hospital visits or a part-time job to go to. It just shows people how much worse the abuse has become over the years. I don't even think I have been outside of Los Angeles before, so this is going to be an interesting time for me. "What do you think Danny?" Rigo asks, when he sees I was just staring out of the window. From what he told me before hand, the camp is surrounded by dense forest which is used for training. "I feel like all of this is really weird. I am discovering things I should already know about the world around me," I tell him.

"Maybe on a day when you are feeling better, we have the day off training, and we get clearance from higher up I will take you out to the town which is close to camp. They love seeing the soldiers," Rigo tells me, after a while of silence has passed. That sounds like a fun idea and a good way to spend some time off duty with Rigo and there will be no risk of our father beating us both. "Yeah that sounds good," I tell him. The pain was starting to catch up with me and it was not a pleasant experience now. It probably showed in my face now how much pain I am in. "Don't worry kiddo, we will be there in two minutes," the driver says, and Rigo helped me relax again him a little more. I was not as chilled out now. It was not this bad on the train, but I had Jorel and George give me medication when I needed.

"I know the pain is really bad right now, but you will be fine once you get some medication into your system," Rigo tells me. I manage to rest my head on his chest. "I know, I just need to suck it up for now," I tell him. Rigo really does not like it when I tell him that I need to suck it up because that was what father always told me. It is what we are both used to and always have been used to. I know we have both always been told by our father to suck it up when he beats us to the point where we are crying or in a lot of pain. I don't like it either, but we could never stop him. It is like he is addicted to seeing his sons in pain and he gets a sick amount of enjoyment from it. It is very disgusting when you think about it a lot.

"You will not have to suck it up for too much longer Danny. I promise," Rigo says, and inside I want to cry more. I sighed, I have made Rigo unhappy and it upset me a lot. He might even be pissed off with me right now. I am in too much pain to move away from him even though that would make it one hundred times worse. He rubbed my chest and kissed the top of my head; the officer wouldn't have cared what my brother did. "I love you Danny, I am definitely not mad at you for this. It is not your fault that we lived with a mad bastard for a father," Rigo says. I love that description for father though, it fits perfectly with the man that is supposed to be our father. "I love you too Rigo," I tell him. I am glad that he is not mad at me anymore. Not that he was mad at me in the first place.

Rigo still does not know that I fainted. They just told him I was ill on the train and they were making me ride in the car as a precaution. To minimize the risk of me fainting on the march up which would have been bad because there were not going to be any medics on route or anything like that. Not to mention how embarrassing it would be. "Oh there's the Murillo kid that passed out on the march up" does not sound like a good thing to be living with for my time here. It would anger Rigo and the last thing I want is for Rigo to get so angry that he attacks on of them and gets kicked out of here. Kyle has been deployed and I need my brother right now. I feel safest with him around and I want it to stay that way.

We manage to make it to camp before the group who are marching up. I knew the car was obviously a lot faster than a group of people marching. The new recruits will take longer to march at first because they will all be getting used to it. Rigo, George and I are already used to it at this point. "Right off to medical before anyone else arrives," Rigo says, then he guides me there. I would not have known where it was anyway. Luckily for us, the nurse was there and checked me over straight away. She gave me the medication I need for the pain I am in. I know it will be okay and I will be fine once it kicks in and I get the chance to rest a bit. Which might be easier said than done here. Only time will tell with that.

"I think you will be fine and fit enough for briefing today, but I would be cautious about you doing a lot of physical activity for now. At least until you feel better," she tells me. I was okay with that, although I was not sure what to expect when I went in. Rigo will make sure that the right people know about the nurse's recommendation for me. I think my mom told Rigo about my injuries before I got on the train, so maybe most of the right officers know already which means they can adjust my training schedule accordingly. I think the most I will not be allowed to do is the physical exercise training and tests that they have within the first month. I think I can sit in the theory tests and maybe miss out on the initial weapon practical's. It sucks but I know most of the basics already, so it is not a huge loss.

The next officer I saw was CSM Ragan. Now the pain medication has kicked in I feel a whole lot better now than I felt on the train which was the last time he saw me. I feel like I can speak easier now. "How are you feeling now Danny?" he asks me, still informal because it was only him, Rigo and I in the area. "I am feeling a lot better than I did on the train," I tell him, being honest with George. Rigo stays by my side because he is very protective, and I mean VERY protective over me and we don't need to leave the medical tent just yet. "Yeah, that is good. At least there should not be a risk of you fainting again now you can get more rest," George says, which made Rigo gasp. I knew that would worry him, I was hoping to kinda keep it from him, but I knew that was impossible.

He is worried about my health enough as it is right now and there didn't need to be an extra worry. "Oh my god, are you okay?" Rigo asks me, and he hugs me very carefully. He had the knowledge of my injuries in mind. "Yeah I fainted yesterday, but I feel completely fine now," I tell him. Rigo made me look into his eyes until he is satisfied that I am okay. I hug him back and we walk towards where the briefing will take place. We got there just as the rest of the new recruits start to arrive onto camp. The rest of my friends are happy to see me now as I am more stable on my feet. I am starting to feel a lot better now, but I know I need to heal from my injuries before I can really be okay. Father was rough.

The briefing didn't take long, they knew the new recruits were tired from the march and the train ride so there was no point overloading them with information. They just outlined the rules and what they expect from us while we are here. I heard some people complain about the early 5 am wake up call, but I am used to it. Our father always made us get up at that time in the morning and do laps in the backyard. Rigo and George are in charger of sorting the recruits into groups which will then be given a billet to stay in. A billet is essentially our temporary home while we are here until we are deployed. The billets on this camp only have a huge main sleeping area with metal beds and there are two rooms for the officers. The toilet is outside because these wooden buildings were not designed with that in mind.

"Danny, I want you to get some rest now okay? The train journey was rough, and you are probably going to be off duty for at least this first week," Rigo tells me. I decided to take one of the beds closest to the room which I know is Rigo's. Like I mentioned, the billet has two rooms at the end which only the most senior officers are allowed to sleep. The rest of the beds are for the recruits and there is the bathroom outside. They said that at the rate people are being recruited they might need bunks in these rooms. This is going to be an interesting few months for sure. Only a few recruits cramped into one of several living quarters having to share one bathroom is going to lead to fights. I hope the other guys can stay with us too.

"Don't worry Rigo, I will rest as much as I possibly can," I tell him, and he smiles. Then Jorel, Dylan, Jordon and Matt walk in. They are now the only other people in the room, no other new recruits followed them in here. I think George might be joining us as well, but only time will tell. "I am glad you are with your brother again," Dylan tells me. There were some stories Jorel told of my brother on the train which made me miss him more. Rigo grins at me. "Yeah and you guys better keep an eye on and look after my little brother," he tells my friends. I was honestly surprised he did not call me baby brother as he often used to do before we left for this place. "I am sure they will help Rigo. They already helped me a few times on the train ride here," I tell him.

I winced at the sting that came from the cuts on my back when I moved and stretched a little bit. "I have food for everyone for tonight," George says, and he brings a stack of trays with him. We each get a tray and since it has been a while since we last ate we just start eating. "I have an extra tray if you need it Danny. You could do with a bit extra food at the moment," George says, and I nod at him. I could tell I was probably going to need it and no one in the room was going to question it. "Hey Danny, I'll let mom know you arrived in one peace," Rigo tells me, and I give him a thumbs up. I do plan on writing home to mom and our sister as much as possible. It will be risky because there is always the chance father will see it, but I will be as careful as I can.

The others start talking amongst themselves after dinner is over. That gives Rigo and I a chance to talk more about our "father". It was going to be a private conversation too. "When we write home, I will put your letter in with mine since father never bothers to read my letters," Rigo says. I give him a kinda sad smile. I wish father cared about us more. I was a little worried about our mom getting letters from me, so that she knows I am alive and well. Father was the one who didn't need to see them. "Thanks, I don't think though that he will truly stop hurting us until we all die," I tell him, getting some feelings off my chest. Rigo hugs me gently. "I know Danny, I signed up so that I knew if I did end up dying in action at least I died with some dignity intact," he tells me.

That was also one of the reasons I signed up and I suspect the reason why Kyle signed up too. "I just wanted to get away from it all and feel like I can breathe again. I honestly could not cope any longer with all the abuse he was doing," I tell him. There were things about it I was not willing to share with Rigo yet, but maybe one day I will. Our conversation stops for now as Dylan walks over to us. "Don't feel too worried about training for a while Dylan. It is not that hard to begin with," Rigo tells Dylan, who did look really worried about something, but I was not sure what it is that is bothering him exactly.

Rigo does not yet know that Dylan was there when father last attacked me on the day that the café closed. I do have a sneaky suspicion that George is going to tell him tonight or early tomorrow morning because he heard the story while we were on the train. I don't mind Rigo knowing though, any fuel we have with our eventual legal battle against our father is welcomed with open arms at this point. The less chance of it ending up being my word and my brothers against his the better. I know mother and sister will defend us, but I don't know what kind of defence father would have against his own family if we go him charged for all the pain and damages he has done to us over our lifetime. Having said that father could scare Dylan out of giving us a testimony against him very easily.

"I am not worried about the training. I am more worried about Danny and his health if I am being honest with you," Dylan tells us. I smile at Dylan and it makes him feel a little bit better and hopefully relieved about my health situation. "I will be okay Dylan. I do not think he can hurt me again from here, so I can heal and recover and then throw myself into training like everyone else," I tell him, and he hugs me. I hug him back, then I realize that I am actually getting pretty tired by this point in the evening. I want to stay up and talk to Rigo though, we haven't talked much since we met up again. "You can go to sleep you know Danny?" Rigo tells me, and I shake my head. I am not tired to the point where I would have to sleep just yet.

"Not yet Rigo, I want to stay up for a bit longer," I tell him, trying not to sound like a little child and whine. Rigo just chuckled and pulled me onto his lap for another hug. "Okay Danny, all I want is to make sure that you can take care of yourself and ask for help whenever you need it," he tells me. I am going to spend the next few hours relaxing in Rigo's arms until I either fall asleep or Rigo sends me to be, so I can get some sleep. After about two hours I got really hungry, so that second tray that George had brought with him has come in handy. I started eating it, no one else was going to and I didn't mind that it was cold. George smiled at me when he noticed that I was eating the second tray that was mine.

I do hope that I don't have to rely on extra rations the whole time that I am being trained here. I feel like it is not fair on the other people here that I get two trays of food and then they don't get the same. George left the billet with all the empty trays back to where they came from, so they can be cleaned. I keep having moments where I am wide awake and then tired again, but I am going to force myself to stay awake for just a little while longer. "I am just going to call mother and let her know you arrived here in one piece," Rigo tells me. He is not leaving the billet just yet though, so I can keep relaxing in his arms for a bit longer. I know mother will understand why I can't phone her myself as of yet. I am not of a high enough rank to get those privileges.

"Don't worry mother though Rigo. She cannot get herself here to see us anytime soon. She wants us home and safe after this is over even though father will still be there," I tell him, speaking quieter in case someone was listening in. "Don't worry Danny, I won't tell her about any of the health issues you've had on the train. She will know you are still getting better from the thing," he replies, keeping it vague. As he leaves to go and make the phone call, I go and sit with the other guys. "Hey Danny, do you want me to stay with you tonight?" Jorel whispers, when I sit next to him. "Maybe, I am not sure if I'll have nightmares tonight or not," I whisper back. Our friendship is frowned upon a lot because people tend to assume our close bond means that we might be dating when we are not and not going to date each other.

If anything we see our friendship like it is on an adoptive brother like level. "Okay Danny, I will be right next to you anyway," he tells me. Jorel wraps his arm around me and I rest against him. "Someone looks very tired," Georges tells me. At night I guess our ranks do not matter as much now as the do during the day time. We can get away with not calling the officers by there ranks. It does feel like it is more relaxed now and we are all calling each other by our first names. No mentions of surnames or ranks. I bet George thinks I will be fast asleep before Rigo arrives back from his phone call. I know mother likes to talk for a while with Rigo about what he has been up to and what he is allowed to talk about.

Although America is not officially part of the war, we have been advised to prepare and train as many troops as possible for that eventuality. We were also told as the war gets more intense there will be less that we will be allowed to talk about, and our letters will be monitored. I was already prepared for that; I know my letters are carefully hidden in Rigo's when we do start sending letters off because there is one man that neither of us want to discover my letters. I will be hiding the fact that I have gone to the camp for as long as I can because father does have the powers to come here if he needs to and will probably end up murdering Rigo and I on sight if he knew that I was not dead from his last attack.

"Yeah, I will go to sleep soon. I don't think or feel like I have had the chance to get to know Matt, Jordon and Dylan all that well yet," I tell George, we didn't talk much on the train as we took the advice of the officers and slept for most of the time. Then I yawned and watched the guys hold back yawns of their own. I feel okay with all of them here. I am safe here; I was not scared of anything here or the potential of being on my own. "Don't push yourself though Danny. We have been told that you are not heavily training this week. Rest up as much as possible," George tells me. I close my eyes for a moment. I was still denying the urge to sleep just yet. I was kind of waiting for the others to go to bed too.

"What hobbies do you have then Danny?" Dylan asks me. I love these question and answer type of conversations and it is an easy way to get to know your new friends. "My hobbies are mainly playing the guitar and drawing. It helps me pass the time at home," I tell him. I have hundreds of drawings at home, all in boxes. I doubt I can draw a lot here, but I know it would help me pass the time while I can't train. "I am sure we can let you do some drawing while you are here resting. There are no rations on paper and pencils are far as I am aware," George says. I notice Matt is still the quiet one like I am, and Jordon is as close to Matt as I am with Jorel. Although like people assume with us there might be more to their friendship than meets the eye.

"Awesome, I would love to see a drawing sometime," Jordon tells me. I smile at the older man, that was one thing I did learn on the train that I am the youngest man in the group. I am the only 21 year old here. Jorel is 22, as is Dylan and Matt and Jordon are both 23. George is 31 like Rigo is. At least that is what I believe is the truth. "One day I will draw all of you. I will need both of us to have free time when I do it though," I tell him. Everyone is happy and they smile a lot. "That is okay, we will have some free time. I am sure of it, even if it has to be during the evening time," Matt tells me. That makes sense to me. I could draw them all over several evenings and it will be good stress relief for everyone too which is a bonus.

Then Rigo comes back and I was very excited to see him again, even if we haven't actually been apart from each other for that long this time. I had a moment where I was worried that he was going to leave me. I know that he wouldn't ever leave me if he had the choice, but the fear is still going to be there. When the two of us are at home we are joined at the hip and pretty much inseparable. "I knew Danny wouldn't be sleeping just yet," Rigo says, when he sees that I am still wide awake and cuddled up to Jorel. Jorel rubbed my arm and I smiled at him. I was still feeling super tired but the fear of having a nasty nightmare made me feel as if I was not ready to fall asleep just yet. I will sleep tonight, just not right this second.

"I'm still resting though, I am just not resting my eyes yet," I tell him, fully aware of how cheeky I sounded to my brother. Rigo decides to sit next to me, so I am now sitting in between Jorel and Rigo. "I wonder where he gets this cheekiness from," George says, a bit sarcastically. We know that I get my cheekiness from the older brother sitting next to me. Well, only Jorel, Rigo and George know about that. In the past my cheekiness has gotten me in trouble, but that has only been with my father who sees any kind of joke or sarcasm or even a cheeky little comment as something which has to be punished for. My mother once joked when I was five years old about how uptight my father was back then, I had to then watch my mother get slapped for saying it and my brother Kyle getting slapped for laughing at it.

"It's either Rigo or Kyle," I tell George, with a little cheeky grin which almost mirrored Rigo's. I decided to snuggle up to Rigo because I wanted to spend some more time with my older brother before I manage to fall asleep. It has been so long since I was able to do this since I haven't seen him in so long. I know I am not leaving the camp any time soon or Rigo. However, I know he could get called out to the frontlines at any point while I am being trained. "Mother is so glad that the two of you made it here safely. Apparently there was a bomb at the Los Angeles station after you had left and she was worried," Rigo tells us. Mother always treats Jorel as if she gave birth to him which in our minds further solidified our brother like bond.

"She doesn't have to worry too much, we will look after the trouble twins," George says. I forgot for a moment that George and a few of Rigo's friends called Jorel and I trouble twins. It was because when we were younger we got into a bit of trouble around the local town. It didn't matter who triggered the trouble because we'd always get caught together. "I didn't know we are still called trouble twins," Jorel admits. I knew we had not gotten up to much trouble lately, but it seems the nickname will always stick with a few people. "Yeah, well you are still to me at least. For me the nickname is definitely stuck. There is still a chance for you two to get up to trouble while you're here," George tells us both.

"I am sure that once Danny recovers and you both settle into life here that the trouble twins will reign again," Rigo says, sounding so proud of that fact. Jorel rolls his eyes. He knows deep down it is true though. We really could get up to all sorts of mischief if we put our minds to it. "I know it is true, but how much can we get away with here?" Jorel asks, knowing that we are living in the army camp for next few months at least. "Not much outside of this billet I am afraid. That is only because the army officers won't be as kind as we are to you," George explains. It was perfectly reasonable as well; we are in a military camp not a high school summer camp. Outside of this room we are not going to get away with anything so we must keep our mischief to inside.

"Yeah, don't worry George. We won't get into too much if any trouble. We know we are here to train for the army, and we have to behave," I tell them. Rigo played with a stray strand of my hair. He was smiling at me and I smiled back at him. "We know you will behave Danny, we are only messing with you," Rigo tells me and I yawned again. I could no wait to get better and be able to have more fun with the rest of my friends and the new friends when we get some time off. I want to be able spend time away from the camp with them when we get permission from the officers. I don't want to be the only one staying behind. I was also relieved to finally have some time and peace away from my father at last.

The pain wasn't bothering me as much anymore. However, I do realise that the train ride being so soon after I woke up from the last beating was going to mess me up a bit. The train ride was not a smooth one, so my back is sore. I am sure I have a few injuries there from the last beating I had received. I know my mom dealt with them a few days ago, but it has to be a daily thing. I have not told anyone in the room about my back injuries and I don't intend to. I don't know if I told Jorel and Dylan when I was retelling my story though. Also Dylan was there when I was in the café and he probably saw some of my injuries. I can barely remember anything that happened over the last few days if I was being honest.

It usually happens after a beating. It does take a couple of weeks for me to realise what had happened and if it is a severe beating then it tends to take a little bit longer. I know I have a lot more support this time around. Jorel is here and so is Rigo and George. The older two males are not usually around when the beatings happen because they are here being trained. I am not sure how the other three will react to recovery and helping me get through this. I have a feeling that Dylan will be willing to help. He saw the beating himself, I might even have to help him through it because I don't know how rough he considers it to be from his perspective. It's not all about me, I never wanted it to be all about me from the start.

"We should all go to bed anyway. It is either a five or six o'clock in the morning wake up for everyone regardless if you have training or not. It is going to be a long day and a rough adjustment for those not used to the early wake up," George informs us, and I felt like it was a wise choice. These guys will be so shocked at how much exercise army training will involve. It might have been made bedtime because I yawned so many times this evening. "We just take our boots off right George?" I ask. I was trying to remember what I was taught and what the night-time routine is. Asking a more experienced person is the best thing we can do when we are not sure. They know we have less experience than them and most of them are willing to answer questions.

We don't have any pyjamas with us, but I believe that we will be sleeping in our uniforms anyway which I don't mind. We have back up uniforms, so we won't be stinking, and I believe they do wash the uniforms on a regular basis. "Yeah. Also a tip I would give you is to try and keep your boots polished as often as possible and we have to shave regularly too," George says, and we all go to our respective beds to take our boots off and go to sleep. I suddenly got light-headed when I took my boots off. So, I took a minute to make sure I felt better. "Danny, are you okay?" Rigo asks me, when he saw my light-headed episode. He was so worried about me which is something I am used to by now.

"Yeah, I am okay Rigo. I just got light-headed again. I will be okay, I think," I tell Rigo. I saw more concern in Rigo's face. "Okay Danny, just try and lie down and see how you feel after a while. Maybe sleeping will make you feel better," Rigo says, feeling very worry about me right now I bet. Jorel was in the bathroom, so he didn't know about this new development in my health at the moment. I decide to follow Rigo's advice and lie down on the bed. It is comfier than when I was sleeping on the train. Then again, anything is comfier than the train. Rigo joins me on the bed, and he was ready to take care of me like he feels that he should have done. I never want Rigo to feel guilty about escaping the abuse while I stayed behind.

Rigo moves some of my hair out of my face when Jorel walks back in. "Are you okay Danny?" Jorel asks me, when he sees me laying on the bed. I probably looked really pale like I have been since the fainting episode. "I am okay Jorel, I just got a tiny bit light-headed when I took my boots off," I tell him. Rigo covered me with the blanket from my own bed just before Jorel walked in. Jorel hugs me gently and then covers me with a spare blanket from a bed that no one is going to be using. We have a few empty beds right now until the next batch of recruits come in and then those beds will be used. I hope this feeling is not going to last long because I already hate it and want it to end. I hate my father for doing this to me.

"Okay Danny, just get some rest. We are all here to look after you," Jorel says and I nod at him. I close my eyes and don't bother opening them again after I yawned. I had procrastinated over going to sleep enough. "Let's let Danny get some sleep," Rigo tells Jorel, and I fell asleep not long after that. Man I am so happy to have my big brother back at my time of need. I am going to enjoy training with him over the next few months. Now if only mother and sister could join the army and then everyone would have freedom. Or we could send father to jail and then we could all have freedom in the comfort of our home which mother owns. That would be much better than the possibility of us all dying on the frontlines.

_**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think down in the comments and see ya next time.**_

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	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_**Heyy sorry that I have been quiet when it comes to writing stories lately. I got super busy with work, so I decided to take some time off to get through until the summer break.. Now I am back!**_

_**15**__**th**__** of January 1917 – Private Jorel's Point of view**_

I wake up to Dylan shaking my shoulder. I guess it is now time to get up and go for breakfast. I look to my left and I notice that Danny is lying on his side curled up like a little hedgehog and is fast asleep. Danny always sleeps like this where possible as I think it's his defence mechanism. "I will wake Danny up in a second. Just let me put my boots on," I tell Dylan. I know Dylan was looking from me to Danny and back again. "Okay Jay, we haven't been able to wake him up yet, so we are a little nervous," Dylan tells me. Danny is quite a jumpy person after everything that has happened to him, so he is going to trust me a little more than he will trust the others. "Yeah, he can be a deep sleeper at times. He'll be okay," I tell him.

I know his recent injuries have made everyone, including me more worried about him than we usually would be. I know he will recover from his injuries after a week or two. I notice that as I go to wake Danny up he has a little bit of a fever. To me though it is not unusual for Danny to have a fever when he first wakes up and after a beating. "Danny, wake up bud. We have to go to breakfast," I tell Danny, who slowly opens his eyes. There is a small amount of panic, but when he sees me he calms down instantly which is good. "Morning Jay," he tells me, and he gives me a small smile. I am glad that Danny seems to be happy now. He's going to thrive here I am sure of it. I am going to see a new side of Danny here.

"Good morning, how do you feel this morning Danny?" I ask my best friend. I help him sit up in bed, so I could help him put his boots on. I don't want him to get light-headed again like he did last night. "A little rough if I am being honest with you, but I should be okay in a little while," he tells me. I hugged him tightly. He looked like he was white as a sheet if I was being honest. I don't think he is okay, but he is going to be resting all day, so there isn't much else he can do really in terms of helping himself along in his recovery. "Okay Danny, I don't know if an officer will come and check on you, but I will when I have free time," I tell him. I want to keep up the feeling and confidence Danny is getting by being here and away from his father.

I have a feeling that Danny will not be able to make it through today without an incident happening. He looks so unwell at the moment I am a little more worried than I was before he woke up. "Hey Jorel, are you going to walk with me to breakfast?" Danny asks me, as he pulls his jacket around himself to keep warm since he had two blankets around himself last night. It might also be why he could be feverish as he's not really used to sleeping with two blankets. "Of course I will dude, I will even help you walk over there if you want," I tell him. Danny felt less anxious now I have said that I will help him out a little bit. The others have already left. They left for breakfast when I was helping Danny put his boots on. I decide that it is time for Danny I to leave for breakfast so that we are not going to end up being late and getting in trouble on our first day.

I know that since it is our first day the camp the officers are going to be more lenient with us. Especially after what happened to Danny which the officers are a little bit aware of. We don't want to get into a bad habit so soon. I was surprised Rigo wasn't hanging around to make sure his baby brother is okay. Then again, he has the officer duties that none of us Privates have, so he has to do those before he gets to spend time with his brother. He's got to be briefed on what he is going to be doing throughout the day. Rigo told us that he will be teaching some of the subjects, but we don't know what lessons he will teach us just yet. I have a feeling he could be a fieldcraft teacher because I remember as a child, he was the best at hide and seek.

Then again just because I knew he was good at hide and seek as a child does not mean he would be as good now. I am just making assumptions now. We will have to see what he will teach us. I can't wait to be in a class with Rigo. I learned a lot from him when I was younger. He was a great teacher and I know that he will ask me to look after Danny when they are not together. It was a thing he made me swear a year and a half ago or whenever he left to come to this camp himself for the first time. He does worry a lot about Danny, and it is natural because of how close they are as brothers. They would have been twins if it was not for the ten-year age gap between the older and the younger brothers. They often don't act like there is that age gap because Danny has grown up way too quickly for everyone's liking.

Rigo looked really worried when he saw me helping Danny walk into the mess hall. He has two plates of breakfast, one for each of us in our spots by the time we got there. We are not late to breakfast which is a relief. "I will be staying with you this morning Danny. I don't have to teach any groups or anything," Rigo says, after he gives Danny some pain relief. It will be relief for Danny to have the comfort of his brother for his first morning. I think we have exercise this morning. "Okay Rigo, I do not think I want to be alone," Danny says. I had a mouthful of food, so I could not contribute to the conversation. My heart hurts for my best friend, he should not be afraid to be alone at this age. "Yeah, don't worry though. Everything will work out fine," I tell him.

"It will. Danny gets to miss all of the physical training you guys have this morning," George adds, something which earned him a small smile off Danny. Jordon did not seem to be too thrilled at the thought of doing exercise. I know that we have to be really fit to be successful in the army and we will eventually be doing two physical training sessions a day. Danny can easily run miles when he is feeling one hundred percent. He can't run as fast while he is injured like he is right now. He seems to be more with it now than he did when he first woke up this morning which is good. His dad really got him good this time which worries me as I've never had to deal with Danny this injured before. It worries me more that Rigo hasn't seen Danny this injured either.

I had time before training to help Danny walk back to the billet. We are running laps this morning with a few other tests to asses our general fitness. I notice Danny was leaning on me less on the way back then he did on the way to the mess hall. He also seems to be in a brighter mood than the one he was in yesterday. I think he's finally realised that he is safe here. For the first time since his first birthday he doesn't have to worry about everything he does being seen as wrong. His father is not around to hurt him in anyway. "Rigo, do you think Danny will be okay?" I ask, after we get my best friend back into his bed. It felt like I was kinda talking about Danny behind his back like this, but I am sure he can hear us.

"Honestly, I think he will be okay. I do agree that this beating has been the worse he has suffered so far," Rigo tells me, I have told him about how I personally feel about Danny's beating. "I will be okay Jorel. I know am just feeling a bit rougher this time around. I am sure I will be okay in a few days," Danny tells me, which does little to reassure me. Maybe I will feel more comfortable about this when Danny gets to join us for training. He will recover sometime in the next two weeks I am sure of it. He'll have a lot more peace this time around to just rest and get over the injuries then he would at home. I remember one time I was staying over at Danny's house and his father took him to another room. When Danny came back he told me that his father had beaten him a second time that week and if his father knew he told me then he'd get a third one.

The memory makes me reach out to comfort Danny even though he was awake and just relaxing on the bed. He still seems to have a fever which is not that good. I don't think the pain medications he has been given have fully worked yet. It might take a little while longer before the pain medications finally kicks in and gets to work for his fever to go down. That would be the best for him right now. He needs all the rest he can get, and I know that all of the people sharing this billet with us will make sure that Danny can recover. I hope that Danny doesn't need to rely on rest for a while. I know that he is itching to get as stuck into training as much as he can but the officers who have higher power than us have basically forced him into resting.

_**Private Danny Rose Murillo's p.o.v – **_

I was lying to them when I told them how I was feeling. I am not as okay as I keep telling them I am. I feel awful and I also feel like I am going to pass out at any given moment. Luckily I have no training to go to today because it is quite focused on physical exercise and how fit or unfit everyone is. I can just rest all day and if I do pass out I am in bed, so I won't get further injuries. Rigo is spending the morning with me and George says he is spending the afternoon with me. Jorel will be visiting me as often as he can during the day when he gets some free time. "Danny, you do have quite the fever. Are you sure that you feel okay?" Rigo asks me, after he places his hand on my forehead. His hand feels so nice on my skin and he was worried.

"Yeah I feel okay Rigo. I am just going to be resting for today. Maybe once I have healed I will feel more one hundred percent," I tell him. He can't argue with this because he knows that I am actually going to stay on bedrest for this week. Jorel sat next to me and I hug him. He hugs me back straight away. "Okay, as long as you rest up Danny. I don't want to lose you," Jorel tells me, and I know it's a possibility, but I don't think that it is going to happen though. "I know Jorel, but you know you can't get rid of me that easily," I tell him, feeling pretty confident that nothing terribly bad is going to happen to me while I am here and recovering from my injuries. Jorel always thinks the worst when he really worries about me. We've grown close since we first met, and it has been tough to be apart from each other for more than a few days.

I was given a small stack of paper and a couple of pencils when Jorel left to go start his first lesson of physical training for the day. "Maybe you could draw the two of us together, so we can send them to mother when we send our letters," Rigo suggests, and I was okay with that. I was happy that I was able to spend this one on one time with my brother. That was the only perk of being injured and forced out of training. There was nothing that I could while stuck in here. I was drawing us in a way that we looked like we were one arm hugging each other and someone was taking a photo of us. I know the photorealistic drawing of us were mother's favourites. I also drew individual portraits which were both of us in our uniforms as I made the other one more casual. Mother could not see me in my uniform before I left in case there was the chance of father seeing me.

I was starting to feel a little better while I was drawing, and it makes Rigo feel a little more at ease with the current state of my health. I know he is still nervous about it, but I am showing him that I am slowly getting better. "Mother will love these pictures Danny. It is a shame that we can't include Kyle in any of them," Rigo tells me. I can't really remember what Kyle looks like anymore. I believe that Kyles was part of one of the first American squads which was sent out to France to help with the frontlines. "Yeah. One day we will be able to include him in future drawings if he comes to visit us or we can visit him," I tell him. I am not currently trained for the frontlines at this moment, so there is no chance of me going to Europe anytime soon.

I know for a fact one day either Rigo or I will be sent out to Europe to fight the Germans and their allies. The way the war is going means that America has no other choice. Especially with what we know the Germans have up their sleeve. I will make my family proud of me one day. No matter how angry father will be at the fact that I went behind his back to join the army. I know mother and sister will be proud of me no matter what I do. Rigo and Kyle will be proud too. Although, I have a sneaking feeling that Kyle has no idea that I have joined the army. He might have been given the same message mother was trying to give to dad about me after the last beating. He might believe that I am dead like father is supposed to believe. Not that my father would feel much remorse for anything he has done to me.

I hope that one day I will be back home with my mother and my siblings, and our father will be long gone, never to be able to go near us again. "I bet he will be locked away in jail before the war is over," Rigo tells me, which makes me start to wonder if I said my thoughts out loud or not. "Who will be?" I ask, just so I was sure that I knew who he was talking about. "Our father. Everyone knows he will do something stupid and reveal himself as the monster he is before the war is over," Rigo says, using air quotations when he mentions our father. I always find it funny when he uses air quotations, since as far back as I can remember he does them whenever he mentions our father when he is not in the room.

The male who played part in the creation of my brothers, sister and I has actually never been any kind of father to any of his children. He beats his sons for whatever reason he can come up with at the time and ignores his only daughter. He isn't even a loving husband. "True, he will mess up sometime sooner rather than later. He will miss beating us up too much, especially now he thinks his favourite punching bag is dead," I tell him. We hate that it is the truth. We can talk about it openly now since it is only the two of us in the billet right now. I believe I have spent two hours drawing my brother and I. So I am guessing it is either nine or ten in the morning now. I believe lunch is at one in the afternoon. Not that I am actually hungry.

I still don't know the routine here off by heart. I know Rigo has told me before what the schedule and routine is here, but I am still learning. Maybe by about week 5 I will know it enough to not ask about it anymore. Also maybe I will be actually taking part in the actual activities that are part of training. I can't wait for the guys to come back and complain about the running and exercise they have to do. For many of them, it will take some getting used to and they will be very sore the next morning. I am already sore from the beating before we left, so I can sympathise with anyone else who feels that way. When father started training us when I was about five years old we were sore from all the running he made us do until we became accustomed to it.

I know that I am still feverish, but I feel cold at the same time. So I put Jordon's spare coat around me. He told me at breakfast if I still needed it for the extra warmth then I could use his coat again until he needed it which he said he'd sweat so much today that he wouldn't. I snuggled into it, trying to get rid of the feeling of how cold I was. "Danny, do you want to get some sleep after lunch?" Rigo asks me, I know he is still quite worried about the current state of my health and how it changes quickly. I give him a hug to try and reassure him that I will be fine. "Maybe, I am not that tired right now though. At the moment I am just feeling really cold," I tell him, and he hugs me back as tightly as he dared. He was so worried about hurting me even though I felt fine.

He rubs my back to try and warm me up a little bit. I snuggled into him for warmth and comfort. I admit only to myself that I am still scared of father even though he is miles away now not knowing where I am. All the time Rigo was comforting me without him knowing he was being really gentle with me. He was considering the level of pain that I would be in and try to minimise it as much as he could. I freaking hate my father right now. He might have ruined the start of my military career all because he has the weirdest obsession of beating his male children for no real reason. I also hate how he has been ignoring my sister because she is the second strongest woman I know and has been really helpful to my mom through these rough times.

"Don't worry about hugging me too tightly Rigo. I have missed the big brother bear hugs," I tell him. It's the truth, anyone who has family currently away for the army will tell you how hard it is to know your family member is out there. Especially if they are on the front lines fighting for their lives. My mother dreads the day she is convinced she'll get a letter about Kyle. "Okay, you tell me when it is too rough then little brother bear. I honestly do not want to make the pain worse for you," he replies. I smile at the second nickname which has returned. I wanted to call him father bear often because he has been more of a father to me than our own and that is a sad fact about our dysfunctional family. All the life skills I have learned have been from my older brothers and not my father like they were supposed to.

"You might be suffering from fever chills right now. You might feel very cold, but if I was to check your temperature it will probably by a high temperature," he tells me. He is probably right on that even though we have no way of knowing for sure how high my temperature is. Putting your hand on someone's forehead isn't exactly an accurate method of taking someone's temperature. "Yeah, I am not sure why my temperature could be that high though," I tell him. It is out of the blue for me to get fevers at random, but it is always a possibility that it could happen. I know that I have fevers after beatings, but they don't last this long. I'd have to sweat it out I guess. It's not going to be pleasant, but I get rest now.

"Yeah, I get that. If you still feel that way and are still feverish later on then it might be worth going back to the nurse. Maybe then we could get to the bottom of why you have a fever," Rigo tells me. I snuggle up to him while we still have time before Jorel comes to get us for lunch. "Sounds like a good idea to m. I don't want to spend too much of the training time we have out of action with whatever the bastard did to me," I tell him. He gives me a sad smile and a little chuckle as I pouted. It is the first time that we have been together since he left to go to camp, and I am injured. He would probably love to chase me around when I pull a prank on him and watch me outrun him as I always do, but I can't when I am like this.

I really want him to feel less worried about me now that I am here with him and he can see that I am alive. He can keep as close eye on me anytime he wants to now. "I know Danny. Your health and well being is a top priority for me. You know I'd walk over burning hot coals for you," he tells me, and I sighed. I know he'd do everything he just told me and then some. I want to spend more time with him I am healthy, and I can enjoy the time more. "Yeah, but I want to enjoy more time with you while I feel fine and I am not injured like this," I tell him. He hugs me carefully again and I hug him back as tightly as I dare now the pain is not as bad as it was. I just want to hug him as much as I can and let him know that I love him because one day he won't be here, and I don't wanna mess up my relationship with him.

"You will be okay eventually Danny. He can't hurt you while you are here, so your body has all the time it needs to heal from the injuries he gave you before you left," Rigo tells me. Then Jorel walks in a little bit out of breath as if he ran here after all the running he has done this morning. "I need to sit down for a minute before we go to the mess hall for lunch," Jorel says, sounding as out of breath as he looked. That was fine by me, I need a minute to get up. As he recovers he seems to be not too out of shape which will help him out a lot. "That's okay Jorel, I think Danny will need a minute to get steady on his feet," Rigo explains. Since I have been a lazy dude and have been laying down most of the morning I will be a little dizzy when I first get up.

"Although I gotta say, all that running you did back when your were in LA did you well this morning it seems," Rigo says, and I chuckle. Jorel had completely recovered now from his little moment of being out of breath. "I told you back then running away from trouble was good for the soul," Jorel tells him, before we both burst into laughter. It made Rigo happy hearing me laugh so freely. "Yeah especially that time where Mr Wilson chased us so far we had to hop over that wall to escape him," I tell him. I think Mr Wilson secretly loved the trouble we'd cause him. He always forgave us the next day and laugh about all of our chases. "Oh yeah, Mr Wilson used to give ya a run for your money. I always wondered how he could keep up with you two. You're like the fastest rascals in Los Angeles," Rigo says. "We'll never know, he passed away a month after you left. I saw him the week before he died, and he thanked me and told me to thank Jorel. He said those chases where the best time of his life," I tell them.

"God bless him. I bet he was lonely, and our chases gave him some fun in his old age," Jorel says. Now, back to the task at hand. I know for a fact I am going to need support walking from building to building today. However, if I can stand on my own okay, then I can help them out somewhat and make them take less of my weight. I am not exactly the lightest dude. Jorel watches as Rigo helps me stand up and after a minute of trying to get my balance he leaves me to stand on my own. Then we all start making our way to the mess hall, so we can eat lunch and I could finally talk to the others. George is coming back with me after lunch to keep an eye on me and take me to the nurse if he finds it necessary. He'll make me rest, Rigo will kick his ass if he doesn't.

I was happy to be back with the others for a while. "Did you see that guy that messed up on the assault course? Apparently people who have been here for a long time have never seen our instructor so angry," Dylan says, just as I reached the table which made me feel gutted I missed that. "Yeah, apparently he lied about some serious medical conditions he has. He has been dismissed and sent home," George explains. Matt was the first to see me and slides a tray of food my way, so I don't have to walk all the way over to the serving table. It was hard enough walking here. "How are you feeling now Danny?" Matt asks, just as I started eating my lunch because I was hungry. At least I have time to consider my answer while I finish the mouthful I have.

"I am alright Matt. I have not really moved from the bed this morning," I tell him, being one hundred percent truthful with the older male. I had no reason to lie to him though. Jordon was the first one to complain about the physical training they had this morning. Well, they have more this afternoon too. George almost seemed to be happy about all the complaints he was hearing. I just listen to Jordon's complaints; I know they will die down when he gets used to it. "You and I are going to spend the rest of the day where you rest okay?" George tells me, quickly trying to get Jordon to shush for a minute. I nod to quickly agree with George because from experience it is not worth getting on his bad side. Plus resting is not a bad idea for me right now anyway because I don't think I'd have the strength to do anything else.

"I could get your drawing done today George." I tell him. I know what they are going to say about this, and I am not going to be pushing myself by doing one more drawing tonight. "That would be nice Danny. Just don't push yourself too far okay?" he tells me. We both know how unhappy Rigo would be if anyone made me push myself too far past what I can do right now. "I won't, I know I can only do one more drawing today anyway. So, while you're keeping an eye on me I might as well draw you," I tell him. Rigo was in the middle of eating and because of that he couldn't really contribute to the conversation. I knew he would have mentioned that I drew him and myself this morning and that I shouldn't be pushing myself no matter what.

I was nearly finished eating lunch and then I get given a second serving because I didn't realise that I was actually really hungry. I guess I was quite used to being starved for so long and now I am eating three meals a day pretty much. It's going to be a change, a good one hopefully. I know that Rigo is quite keen for me to put weight on because I am underweight according to the medical people I have seen. I think because of my fainting episode back on the train I think the day before yesterday the officers don't want a repeat of that while I am here. I hate all of this; I hate that people are fussing over me because that is something I don't like. I am not the type of person that enjoys being the center of attention, so the next few weeks are going to be rough as hell for me.

After lunch was over, the others went to their next physical training lesson. George helped me walk back to the billet. I was slowly finding that I am starting to need less support walking when I feel more awake and more with it. When I feel more tired I feel myself leaning on George, Rigo or Jorel more when I am walking so I won't fall over. I was doing pretty well so far considering this has been the worse I have been for a long time and we spent two or three days on a train which was not good for my injuries. I go straight to the bed while George spends a few minutes looking at the pictures I have drawn this morning. I did one extra one of my sister that I was keeping here so I wouldn't forget what she looks like.

"Wow Danny, these are amazing. You could be a highly paid artist in the future," he tells me. It was something I contemplated when Jake originally told me the café was closing down for the duration of the war. "Yeah, I would still like to keep my café job for a while at first. I think it's going to take a while for everything to go back to normal after the war is over, so I don't think many people will be interested," I tell him. I feel like the world is going to be a different place once this world war is over and done with. We might not even live long enough to make it back to our families. "That is very true Danny. I wouldn't rush into a new career either until I knew that everything was stable again. We don't know how long the war is going to drag on for," he tells me.

It made me feel a little smarter and like I could easily have an intelligent conversation with someone and that felt really good. I often got spoken down to in most conversations back home unless they knew me well. George sat very still while I drew him very carefully and tried to get all of the details right. We did more talk about the war. When I was finished with my drawing I showed it to him so he could pass his judgement on it. He carefully took it off me and studied it, I knew he was looking at each little detail I had drawn. "Oh my gosh Danny. This is better than anything I could have imagined. Thank you so much. I am definitely sending it home so it can be treasured forever," George tells me. We both smile at each other. I like the idea of it being framed somewhere where his family could see it.

Then he pulls me into a gentle hug. I tried not to hiss in pain or react badly to the hug. I am sure I have some cuts on my back from the beating which George unintentionally touched when we hugged. They hurt and sting like hell when the fabric of my shirt rubs against them when they were touched. I noticed that despite that the pain was not that bad, and I do feel pretty tired at the moment. I think I will be fine though. I do know that there is a time difference between where the camp is based and Los Angeles which will make me more tired than normal. It takes time to get used to being in a place where the time is different to the place that you came from. By the end of the week I will be fine and so will the others who will undoubtedly be as tired as I am.

Luckily George didn't notice that is was in pain. I don't want any of them worried further than they already are. "Why don't you take a nap Danny? It won't do you any harm," George suggests. I yawned after George made the suggestion of falling asleep for a while. I make myself as comfortable as I possibly can in the bed and George sorts the blankets out for me. I had ditched Jordon's spare jacket for now as I feel sufficiently warm enough now even with the extra blanket as these are the thin and itchy ones. "Yeah no harm will be done," I tell him. I snuggled into the blankets, ignoring all of the stinging and pain that came with every move I made. "I will be here when you wake up Danny," he tells me.

That made me happy as I closed my eyes. I am sure Rigo has told him more that I would ever tell him. George and Rigo are as close and Jorel and I. They confide in each other and share any worries that they have with each other. Rigo will have definitely told George he was worried about father coming to hurt us and that I would share the fear because this would be the first time in my entire life that I was away from him and all the abuse I suffered since my first birthday. "I trust you George," I tell him, quietly. He chuckles and tells me to go to sleep. He also said that if I was feeling rough I would feel better after having a good rest. I have still worked hard today even if it wasn't physical training.

**A few hours later – Private Jorel Decker's p.o.v**

I have some free time to kill before the next session of the day. It is good to have a little break from all the physical training. I have no way of checking the time, but what I do know is I have time to check on Danny before my next session. I am still quite worried about him; I don't think he realises how ill he looked when he left to go back to the billet at the end of lunch. When I got back to the billet, George is sitting on Danny's bed at the edge with Danny himself laying down curled up like I saw him this morning. He was fast asleep next to George and nothing seemed to be further wrong with my best friend. I was quickly about to change my mind as George definitely looks really nervous while he was looking at Danny while he is sleeping.

"Is Danny okay?" I ask George, who looked a little startled at me for a moment then back to Danny. "I am not really sure to be honest Jorel. He has been sleeping for a long time. He feels really warm like he has a fever," George tells me. I think Danny might need to visit the nurse again. I put my hand on Danny's forehead and he definitely has a high temperature. George had taken both the blankets off Danny. We need to check to see why he might have this high of a temperature. Poor Danny, my best friend is not having a good time lately. I want him to feel better so we can have more fun. Even though I know we can't get up to much fun until we get permission to walk off camp to explore nearby towns and villages.

It took us roughly a few minutes, but we did find something. Danny's so called "father" had left three very deep gashes in my best friend's back. By the looks of things they were already pretty infected which is why he has not been looking or feeling well since he woke up from the beating. "He definitely needs to go to the infirmary," George tells me. I was definitely not going to not disagree with George on this one. Danny needs to get to the infirmary tent as soon as we can get him there. George lifts Danny up effortlessly and takes the jacket off. I was a little more worried about Danny now he was not really reacting to anything around us. He must be really unwell if he is so deeply either asleep or unconscious.

We walk over to the infirmary where we are met by Rigo. He was probably worried about his brother and has a break too. It seems to be that he told the nurse we were coming because she went to get things to treat Danny. She took his shirt off him and asked me to help keep him on his side because he can't support himself. George told her about the cuts we had found on Danny's back and I heard Rigo cuss quietly. I keep Danny on his side while she works to get rid of the infection that was already there and clean them so that the infection doesn't come back. Danny is still not showing any signs of responding to my touch or the nurse while she works. It would probably be pretty painful for the poor dude.

I guess that is going to happen with how sick that infection has made him. The nurse said that it was the quickest that she saw infection take hold in an injury after Rigo told him how long ago the beating was without revealing too much detail which we knew. She said if she had to make an educated guess on what went down is that whatever was used to hit Danny was not clean. He is probably going to wake up either later on tonight or some time tomorrow. He just needs to take the time to rest and recover. She said if she would have known sooner than she would have recommended that Danny waited a few more days before making the train journey. It is what is making his symptoms probably worse then what they could have been.

Soon Danny was all bandaged up and the nurse said the infection will clear up in a few days' time with daily dressing changes and the antibiotic cream to heal the injuries his father gave him. The nurse didn't know who attacked Danny, but the other people in this infirmary do. I am still somewhat shocked that Danny and Rigo's father could be this nasty and aggressive to his own child. Then I realised that he probably did the same to Rigo and Kyle when they were younger as well. That is how ruthless the man can be, and I was not going to be surprised with anything that I will learn about this man if the boys decide to open up further about what they have gone through. It will help them both out mentally.

"I hate to say this, but this is worse than anything that he has done to Kyle and I," Rigo says, something tells me that he was probably telling us the truth. "Danny is strong, he will get through this. He has the strength of you," I tell him, I want him to feel good about himself while I feel confident about all of this. "I know he will. I just can't help but think that when Danny was attacked on his last day of work that the guy really meant to kill Danny on that day," Rigo says, avoiding saying who has done this to the younger male. The nurse is still around and now is not the time to get their father in any sort of trouble. The nurse could tell anyone higher up what she thinks they need to know. They might think the person is a threat to camp.

There is a time for that soon enough, when he is least suspecting it to happen. He probably has been led to believe that Danny is either dead or has run away form army training. For Danny's sake I was hoping the former rather than the latter. "Yeah I agree with that. I think that he probably meant to have killed Danny that day, but he has failed so far," George says. Danny already starts to look better than when I first saw him before lunch. I was probably late to the last lesson before dinner, but I am too worried about my best friend to care that much right now. "I will go and let them know you are here with Danny. I think they'll let you stay here with some persuasion," George tells me. I think we were going to have a break from physical training and learn about the weapons we will be using here.

I nod at George before taking my place on Danny's right side and I took hold of his right hand. He'll be so confused when he wakes up because he'll know he didn't fall asleep here. "Danny is very lucky to have a friend like you Jorel. He needs someone like you to help him through this hard time in his life," Rigo tells me, while we both watch over Danny. I felt like I was the lucky one to have Danny in my life. I have no idea what I would do without Danny. "I am here for Danny until the very end. I think I need him as much as he needs me if I am being honest," I tell Rigo, who smiles at me. Rigo is the best big brother Danny could ever have. He's always going to knock down mountains to help his little brother out.

I thought today was going to be all about physical training and assess us to see where we are at, so we can see our improvements. I was told at the last lesson before we discovered how sick Danny was that we'd have an introduction lesson to the guns. George walks back in a few minutes after he left and smiles at me "Last lessons today have been cancelled anyway. The guns have broken so they need to be repaired," George says, which blows my mind. That seems to be a weird thing. Guns are not supposed to break in an army camp. What if the enemy discovers our location and decides to attack. They'd meet a whole bunch of unprepared new recruits with weapons that don't even work properly.

"Wait a minute. We are at an army training camp and the weapons that they have don't even work?" I ask, in a lot of disbelief. Well, I guess the bright side to all of this is that it does mean I can spend more time with Danny and stay with him for a bit longer before I have to go back to the billet for the night. You would think that they would make sure that all the weapons would be in full working order with new recruits arriving soon. "Yep they don't work. My guess is they have not been cleaned for a while. They will get the guys who have been here longer than you guys to clean them and help restore them to full working order," George replies. I felt Danny's hand twitch against mine and I smiled at the sleeping male.

I bet he will start to feel a lot better when he wakes up now. The treatment he needs has been started now which will massively help him out. "Well they do say what can go wrong will go wrong and things come in threes. Especially when most of the weapons were due for a service before all the newbies arrived" Rigo tells us both. They already had the new recruit who lied, then Danny collapses and now the guns don't work. Rigo has hold of Danny's left hand in both of his hands and starts to rub circles on the hand. We now all doubt that Danny will wake up even though he reacted to my touch at least. "Do the others know that we are here?" I ask George, since he has probably seen them when he went to the other lesson to find out what was going on. "Yeah Dylan is heading over here in a little bit," George says.

Danny is going to be very well protected while he is here that is one thing that I do know for sure. He is going to have a lot of friends here by the end of the war. When they get to know him who wouldn't want to be friends with such an amazing soul as Danny? The correct answer would be nobody. "Yeah he saw what happened to Danny and got him some help from Jake. So I know he is going to be worried about Danny," I tell them, before going into details and tell the older two males the story that Danny gave me on the train about what happened. I wasn't worried about the nurse as she was busy elsewhere. This was not much of a surprise to Rigo since he said he experienced similar with his father before, but it was something that shocked George a lot. It's a natural reaction to the aggression of their father.

"Why has he not gone to jail already for everything he has done to the three of you?" George asks. We knew he was holding back most of his emotions as he moved Danny's hair out of the way of our young friend's eyes. "We tried when Danny was only three years old. Mother was sick of it and didn't want her third son to be harmed. It didn't work because he mentioned that Danny can be easily misled and managed to convince the judge we had lied despite that fact Danny would scream and cry every time father went near him. He would also say no whenever we would mention going with father anywhere," Rigo says, and it made both George and I feel very angry at the man and I swore I would put him in jail myself.

How he managed to get away with something so major like beating your three male children since they could walk is beyond me. I know Danny is still traumatised from his childhood and early adulthood. It broke my heart to hear about how afraid he was back when he was three years old. I was his friend back then since we have known each other since we were babies. I felt bad to not remember any of the early years, although something tells me they were not worth remembering regardless. One day the children's father will be in jail and we will help them celebrate their freedom. After all these years they deserve to be able to go back to Los Angeles and not be afraid of living their life.

We must have been comforting Danny for at least most of the cancelled lesson. Little Danny needs the comfort even if he can't tell we are comforting him right now. The nurse came to check on Danny so any talk about Danny's attack was silent which she made some basic checks on him. The main thing that is important for us is that Danny is stable and is given the chance to recover from his injuries. If the nurse is happy then we will be happy and worry less about him. The nurse is really nice and has let the three of us stay with Danny without one single complaint. She could easily kick the three of us out and say that Danny needs peace to rest. She would know from the uniform having our surnames on that Danny and Rigo are siblings. I bet the whole camp knows Rigo's baby brother is here now.

I think back to their father. How a man could get away with hurting his child when all the evidence against him was there in black and white was definitely beyond me. "Danny is still afraid of your father isn't he?" George asks and Rigo nods. The nurse is busy again. "Danny will always be afraid of him. All the memoires that he is going to keep that are to do with our father will always be nasty. Our father will never be nice to us for as long as the three of us are alive," Rigo tells us, feeling a bit sad but at the same time it is no big loss to them. He was no real father to any of his children at the end of the day so why mourn something that was never there. Even their sister won't miss him when he is gone.

The three awake people in the room need to get dinner. The nurse said to us when she saw the time that Danny would be fine while we go to the mess hall for dinner while he is still unconscious. She would be there if Danny wakes up anyway and would provide a familiar face for him. We met up in the mess hall with the others who were eagerly waiting for us. Dylan saw us first and told the others that Danny still currently in the infirmary. "Is Danny going to be okay?" Jordon asks us, when we get our dinner. "Yeah, the nurse said he will be fine in a few hours. He had some infection in his back that will clear up soon," I tell him, and then explain exactly why Danny was in there and what happened to him.

Matt and Jordon will find out the truth about Captain Murillo eventually, so why not now? it will impact on Danny's training so they will end up finding out. After dinner, Dylan and I decide to walk to go and see Danny in the infirmary. Rigo is going to be spending the night with his little brother to keep him company. We are dividing ourselves, so we don't overwhelm Danny when he does wake up. He will be confused and possibly still, not feeling to well as well. Like I think I mentioned before he will remember falling asleep in the billet and not remember getting to the infirmary. Rigo also needs some time to chill with George so he doesn't stress out while he is taking care of his little brother. He needs some time to himself as well.

The nurse lets us do some care for Danny, so we decide to clean his hair. The nurse has given him a sponge bath but let us deal with his hair. We both hoped while we were doing all of this that Danny would wake up. Unfortunately for us Danny didn't show us any signs of responding to us and didn't wake up at all while we were there. I don't feel comfortable leaving him here overnight, but Rigo's going to be on watch so he is safe. I know Rigo won't let any more harm come to his brother if he has anything to do with it. Rigo feels bad enough that Danny is in the mess even though there was nothing he could have done to stop it. They both would have ended up in the infirmary or dead if their father got his own way.

We reluctantly leave when Rigo walks in to take over. He told us it was our bedtime and we need the rest. Today has been tough on us and we don't really know how sore we'll feel. We walk back and deliver the news that there was no real change in how Danny was and his condition. It was not bad, at least we didn't come back and say he felt worse and was doing worse. Hopefully Danny will be feeling better when I visit him tomorrow after breakfast before our first lesson. I feel empty now Danny is not here. We are like brothers; we have rarely been apart in the time that we have known each other. "Don't worry Jay, Danny will be back with you before you know it," George tells me. After I finish my night-time routine I crawl into bed and just beg sleep to take me quickly.

_**And that is the end of chapter 4! Do you guys like the story so far? There is more to come soon I promise.**_

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	5. Chapter 5

Paradise Lost Chapter 5

_***PSA- All characters might not behave as they would do irl for STORY purposes only. Just putting that out there***_

_**16**__**th**__** of January 1917 – Private Jorel Decker's point of view**_

Rigo woke us up nice and early because Danny was just starting to wake up and he has asked Dylan and I to be there for his brother while Rigo gets us all some breakfast. He doesn't want Danny to wake up on his own since he won't really know where he is as soon as he wakes up. The others are not awake yet, but they will see Danny later on today if the nurse decides he is well enough to leave. We have another long day of training ahead of us. I am hoping that Danny will be able to sit in for more of theory-based lessons that we have today. When he recovers a little more from the beating, he suffered he can do more of the lessons that he wants to do and enjoys more. He will have a lot of fun here I am sure.

We made it into the infirmary just in time. I could see that Danny was slowly starting to wake up now and we are going to be right by his bedside when he opens his eyes. I go to take his left hand this time. He seems to be responding to me a little more now. His finger twitched against my hand and I was reassuring him while he was coming round. I keep telling him that everything is going to be fine and how he was safe now. I wasn't doing it too frequently though because we know it could irritate him. His eyes were starting to flutter open now and Dylan and I told him to take his time and that there is no rush. A few minutes later Danny slowly opened his eyes for the first time. This all felt familiar to me like I have been here before. Danny has been so ill he has required hospital treatment and has been unconscious and I have been here when he has woken up every time.

"Hey Danny, how do you feel now?" I ask him, my other hand is in his hair to keep him calm. I hear him sigh and I rub his scalp which helped. "I am really sore, but I will be okay," he tells me, his voice is a little scratchy, but that was because he didn't talk at all yesterday after he had fallen asleep. "All right Danny. Just take it easy okay? You are going to spend today resting," I tell him, and Dylan smiles at the younger one. "What happened yesterday?" Danny asks, he has now realised that he is not in the billet where he fell asleep yesterday. He wasn't scared though which was good for us. It was like his body knew that even though he has woken up in a new place he still feels safe. He even smiled at me. That makes me happy that he is feeling safe and comfortable. He is definitely like my baby brother.

"We couldn't wake you up when I got back from training. We found a few infected cuts on your back, so we took you here to get them fixed," I tell him. Danny trusts me a lot because I am that honest with him. Danny turned onto his side to help with the pain he must be in right now. "Oh, I didn't realise that he had done that. I know something stung when Jake checked me over, but I didn't know what. My back has also been hurting but I thought that was part of the whole I was on a train for two days," he tells me. I hugged him carefully to avoid hurting him or touching those nasty cuts on his back. "I bet you weren't expecting that, but you will be okay when the cuts heal up," I tell him. Danny smiled and hugged me back tightly.

He felt safe with Dylan and I which is good. The tight hug was him reassuring himself how safe he is now. I think when he is more awake, he is realising that his father really can't get to him here which is going to be a nice break from all the abuse and suffering. Danny is still smiling, and it is currently the longest I have ever seen him smile since we were children and the abuse wasn't that bad back then because Rigo and Kyle were still at home and the main focus of the abuse. I hated that it ever happened to any of them and I want to turn back time and make sure that it never got to happen even if I was not born when it started happening to Rigo and Kyle. I only like the man because he helped create my best friend. After that I don't respect or like the man because of his other actions.

With Danny not being aware of his own injuries it didn't surprise me because I know that he has been injured so frequently that he has lost track of how many injuries he has and in what locations they are. The train did give me some back ache too. It was not comfortable at all and having back injuries on top must have made it more miserable for him than it was for anyone else. I feel even worse for him being here, but at the same time now I know more about what happened two days before the train trip I would not be coming back to a best friend. He'd be dead for sure if he didn't get on the train that day. That is the scariest thing that I think we can ever consider being a possibility. I would be lost without my brother by my side.

I also wasn't surprised by the severity of his injuries. His so-called father is very ruthless and unsympathetic towards all of his children. He has anger issues, but he is especially aggressive and violent with his male children. He has cut his sons before as well. Their mother is usually the one left to patch her children up afterwards and it is something she has always hated. She hated the fact that her husband decided to hate and hurt their boys, but her pleas always went unheard. She couldn't afford the fees it costs to divorce him from what I know. Luckily, she owns the house so she could get help and get him kicked out. Who wants to date or continue to be married to the person who may be sending his children to early graves? The correct answer is no one and I am sure Margo would leave if she could.

The nurse comes over and gives Danny a head to toe check-up. She told us after that he is well enough now to leave the infirmary and sit in the theory lessons we have today. She would give Rigo some pain medication to give Danny when he needs it throughout the day. Rigo brought all three of us breakfast and while we were eating the nurse talked to Rigo about what she felt like Danny was fit enough to do today. "You look a lot brighter today Danny," Dylan tells our younger friend. Danny smiles at Dylan again. "Thank you Dylan, I do actually feel better today," Danny says. I was glad my best friend feels a bit better than he was. I can't wait until we can have more fun together at camp as he continues to recover.

Now that nasty infection is leaving, and the injuries are healing he will start feeling more awake. He will have to carry on doing the thing he hates and keep resting though until he is completely better. Rigo is definitely happy that Danny is on the mend and he can look after his little brother like he promised their mother that he would do. He said that he would make sure Danny is kept safe as much as he possibly can. Now one threat has been removed (their father) that should be an easier task. We are at risk of being sent to the frontlines at any time once they have deemed that we are trained enough. "You can go to the theory-based lessons now," the nurse tells Danny, she had briefed him on what his limits are going to be for the next maybe week or two weeks while those wounds heal up nicely.

I helped Danny to his feet and waited until he got his balance back. I am probably going to be spending most of my time today keeping an eye on Danny for Rigo for the moments that they will be apart from each other. The nurse has been so nice despite only being told the little bit that she was allowed to know about what went on. She said that we could bring Danny back any time if we were worried about his health or his injuries. Danny was so happy to be up and walking around and finally able to join us in our lessons. Danny is still showing his stubborn side as he was trying to rely on me less for walking around even if he needed my help. That is just the way that he is really, he keeps on going because he is so used to doing it even when he feels like death warmed up.

I noticed that he was still smiling at me. I guess he really is happy to be out and able to join in and work more towards his own military training. I bet he will get promoted quicker than I will when we get further into training. I think it also made Dylan happy to see Danny happy and looking brighter. He has not really seen Danny this well apart from brief moments at the café when Danny has served Dylan in the past. Danny wouldn't usually be hurt this badly while he was working in the café and it wasn't because his father cared about him, it was because he was more worried about his reputation. That was another thing that disgusts me about the behaviour of Captain Murillo. Why bring children into the world if you're just going to hurt them over and over?

Anyways, we managed to make it to the lesson in time. George is about to start teaching our group the basics of one of the weapons we will be firing for most of our training and possibly when we go out on the frontlines. Danny already knows a lot about the M1917 Enfield rifle which is what we are learning about today. He also knows about the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun which is the other weapon we will eventually learn about. A bit of revision wouldn't do Danny any harm, it will help him in case his memory was affected. George was both surprised and happy to see the three of us walk into the lesson just as he was about to start. "Glad you could make it you three," George tells us, he didn't make it an embarrassing situation which we were thankful for. There were still some seats in a good place for Danny which was a blessing.

You'd think that the USA would have a shortage on the rifles that are being used in the war, but they haven't. Which I guess is why we are using some of the M1917 Enfield rifles which have been modified to be used for drill purposes which means they would never fire again. As instructed, Danny was taking it easy during the lesson, but it was clear that he was one of the brightest students in our class. We stayed behind a few minutes after everyone else had left and the lesson ended, so it would be easier for Danny to leave without feeling rushed. There are not going to be a lot of lessons today since the main planned lessons we are supposed to have revolve around the Enfield rifle and the Hotchkiss machine gun. As far as everyone knows at the moment they are still in emergency maintenance so it will take a while.

Danny was taking his time to leave the class because I could tell the pain was starting to act up and he was getting uncomfortable with the pain levels he was in. I decide to stay close to Danny and stay by his side so he could use me as a support if he felt that he needed me. I was going to help Danny back to our billet anyway so he can get all of the bed rest he needs while he recovers from the infection in his back. I think he might take a nap with me before we have to go for lunch as we have a free lesson. We all know that we have more than an hour of free time between now and lunch time. "Are you okay Danny?" I ask him, I noticed he was struggling a bit more after he had gotten out of the chair and started walking towards the door.

When I asked the question, I saw that he had stopped walking about halfway across the training room because he was in a lot of pain by this point. "Not really, my back really hurts, and my knee hurts too," Danny tells me. I know he would have pain in his knee cause he was hit there. I had also walked a little bit further ahead of him without realising, so I walked back over to him to offer him support while we walk. I know there are wicker wheelchairs available which would help with the knee injury he has, but I feel like it would make the back injuries worse. Wicker wheelchairs are not the most comfortable things in the world. I would feel so terrible if I had to spend the day in that and have someone else push you around all day. Especially one so stubborn as Danny, he hates his current situation a lot already. Can't force him to do something he will hate.

"Alright Danny, we will try and get you back to the billet as soon as we can and get you some pain medication to make comfortable," I tell him. George was still around and was watching us carefully, I know Rigo would ask George to look after his little brother as much as he possibly could. George could probably provide more walking support for Danny since he is stronger than I am. "Hey, do you want to lean on me Danny?" George asks, Danny was quite considerably shorter than George. I think Danny would accept it because Rigo would ask him to at least let his friends look after him. He knows that we would keep our eye on him and would not be forcing him to agree to anything that would make him uncomfortable like going to the nurse if he didn't want to go unless it was absolutely necessary like yesterday when he was unconscious, and we couldn't get any response from him. He knows we are trying to help him.

He nods almost straight away to George's question which is good. I am glad that he is accepting help. George wraps his right arm under Danny's left arm and takes most of his weight which is something I just wouldn't be able to do by myself. Rigo was waiting outside of the lesson because he wanted to check on us. Rigo also helped walk back to our billet. I was walking along-side them, and he was managing to hold a conversation with me. It wasn't affecting his level of consciousness, but it was helping him by providing him with some distraction from the pain that he is currently in. I know the older two males were happy and grateful I was there to get Danny talking more to the three of us. I want him to have some distraction from the pain because I felt so bad for him that he is in the pain to begin with.

Danny flopped down on the bed the he has claimed as his the moment he was able to do so. Rigo gave him the pain medication, so that the youngest can be relieved of the god-awful pain he was in. this is the second full day of being at camp and already it has been a rollercoaster for us. I am sure that when we get more into training and Danny has recovered that it will all be fine. "I am sorry guys. I have been causing you nothing, but trouble and issues haven't I?" Danny asks me and the others that are in the room. Poor Danny, he shouldn't have to feel this way at all. This is what his father has done to him, he never used to be this way. He never felt like he was such a burden to people until recently and even I don't know what his reasons are.

"Danny, you have not been causing any of us issues or trouble I promise. If anyone has been causing issues then it is your father. He has been the one who has made your life hell and hurt you and caused all of the problems you have," George says, telling Danny what everyone else would tell him to reassure him. It proves that Danny and Rigo's father has definitely done more than just physical damage when he has abused the poor lad. I know for sure that he has been through some mental abuse while he has been at home. "I know, but everyone has to bend over backwards to accommodate me and I hate it. You should be focusing on the training and less on me," Danny says, looking down at his boots. He always does this when he says something that he knows is going to trigger a reaction from us.

"No one is bending over backwards for you Danny. We all care about you and want to look after you," Rigo tells his younger brother. This has got to hurt for Rigo to think that his brother thinks this way. Rigo is right though, we all care a lot about Danny. I hate how low Danny's opinion is of himself. He is an amazing guy and one day he will see it for himself. "You would do the same thing for us if any one of us were in your position," I tell him. Danny might finally be accepting what we are saying as the truth. I sit next to him on his bed to comfort him and he rests his head on my shoulder. "I guess you are right," he tells me. He also could be saying this to shut us up because he is quite tired right now.

I think he might take the time to have a nap before lunch since there is literally no lesson at the moment. "You can nap now you know Danny," I tell him, and I let him sit on my lap and cuddle up with me. If it comforts him then I don't mind doing it. A few minutes later he falls asleep on my lap all cuddled up like we did when we were little, and we had stayed up too late but tried in vain to hide it from my mom. Rigo smiles at us both. "One day Danny will be able to recover from all of this and feel like he can put this all behind him," Rigo says. We both know that one day they will both be free from all of the abuse forever. It will just take this war to do it I guess; I don't know what else will make their father see what he has done is wrong other than them almost dying to get that freedom from him.

Speaking of the abuse, Rigo decided to fill everyone else in on all of the abuse they have been through that he was willing to share. It was safe to say that Jordon, Matt and Dylan were shocked by this. Dylan only knew about what he saw before we left. "So, your father has beaten all of you since you were one?" Jordon asks, he was struggling to believe it. I was the exact same until one day I saw it for myself. "Yeah, the only child he has never hurt is our sister," Rigo says. I always thought that was odd that he left her out. Now I think it was for the best that she was left out, Margo needs someone to take care of her. Danny was still sleeping in my arms. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps anywhere even if it was not in my arms which is good. He needs a decent rest without having a nightmare about his abuse.

"Maybe he was trying to beat you into shape?" Matt suggests. It was a pretty stupid suggestion, but it is something we have not considered when we try and look for reasons as to why he does it. "Possibly, we have managed to just about please him before, but he has never said that he has ever been proud of us before," Rigo says. I know Danny has said his father has never said anything to them that might even resemble praise. "Wait, so he has never said I am proud of you?" Dylan asks Rigo since Danny is still sleeping. Rigo shakes his head. "Never, not even when Kyle and I have been promoted or when Danny managed to get his café job and promotions," Rigo tells them. It makes me hate their father just a little more than I did before. My own father was rarely around and yet he still praises me.

"Your father would hate you getting promoted in the army because he would see it as a threat to his position. He wouldn't want to be taking orders from his own children," I tell him. Maybe that is why he hits his sons; he feels threatened by his own sons and them becoming more powerful than he is. "That makes sense Jay, both Kyle and I are getting closer to being the same rank he is. Danny will get there one day, but he also has a stable job back home and people there that care about him so he shouldn't throw that away to one up father," Rigo says. We both know Jake, who is Danny's boss outside of the army world and who helped Danny after his last beating. He could have easily called the cops on Captain Murillo, but he chose not too which would have made things harder for Danny.

"Yeah, Jake could have handed Captain Murillo in, but he didn't. Captain Murillo will pay eventually," I say. One day Rigo, Kyle and Danny's father will be arrested and charged for his crimes and hopefully rot in hell. "That is true, but one day someone is not going to be afraid and he will be arrested," Rigo says. We are going to have to wake Danny up soon so we can all get to lunch on time. "Yeah, he won't get away with it forever," I tell him. We talked for a little while longer before it is time to wake Danny up. It took a few minutes for him to wake up and I am sure he wished he wasn't awake right now. When he was fully awake though he smiled at me and he looked like he was feeling a whole lot better.

"We are going for lunch now Danny," I tell him. He gets off me and sits on his own and nods. Then he stretches. I was glad that he had such a good rest and that he is settling in as well as I am to army life. "Okay Jorel," he tells me. He was very aware of the others staring at him, but not why and the fact that the others know a lot more about the abuse now than he thought they did. He'll know when he is feeling more awake. Rigo would not keep something like that from his brother. Especially when it is something so important as all of your friends knowing about what a monster your father is to you and your siblings. Danny snuggles with me while he wakes up which is normal when he has had a good rest.

Rigo was grinning at his brother's progress even though we both knew what was coming in the next few minutes. I think Danny will take the new okay, he knows it is bound to happen eventually. It must be easier to get it out of the way and see how supportive our friends are now instead of waiting like six months. That way it saves any potential loss of friendship when he might need it more later on down the line. Not that I don't trust these men with my life and think they will stand by Danny until they all breathe their last breaths. It's just hard to guess what someone thinks about something so serious. It seems like the guys are supportive this far though as no one has left the billet or requested to move billet which is good.

"Hey Danny, I told the others about what happened at home. I'm sorry I didn't ask you first," Rigo says, I could see how nervous he was. Danny hugs Rigo tightly, worried that his older brother was about to leave and would have left him while he was sleeping. "That's okay Rigo, they would have found out eventually," Danny tells him. He is still scared of their father coming back to hurt him. Jordon and Dylan hug Danny when they get up. Danny was more confident walking to the mess hall this time which was good. He even told me that he felt better than he did when we left the theory lessons we had this morning. We still made him sit down and George was getting him the food because we don't want to push him too far. Danny might finally start putting on weight with all the extra trays of food he has been getting.

It's on the nurse's orders after all, so no one can complain. She was worried when she weighed him this morning. He weighs a lot less than he should. "Did the nurse speak to you about weight?" George asks both Rigo and Danny. The nurse would have asked Danny about his eating habits. "Yeah she said I need to eat more to get back to a healthier weight," Danny says. We all knew that Danny is not at a healthy weight right now. "So that means extra meals and snacks until you are back to a healthy weight," George tells him. Danny can't refuse now. He has to eat the extra portions he is given because the nurse will be checking up on him to make sure that he is gaining weight. He is going to be weighed a lot during the next few weeks, so that means there is no way he can get away with not doing as he is told.

"Yeah I guess so," Danny replies, I knew he was not happy with it at all. He hates people making any sort of fuss over him, that is a fact about him that has not changed from when we were younger. "Don't worry about it little brother. It will only be while you gain weight, it is not going to last forever," Rigo says, to try and reassure his brother. Rigo knew as well as I did that his brother was not happy with this. Danny still ate the portions he was given though. I hope he realises that this will benefit him in the long run. We have one practical session today; they have changed our schedules around a little bit to see what works best. Danny will have to miss that lesson though. The nurse said he would be able to do physical training in at least two weeks if he continues to heal well. They don't think it will take much longer than two weeks for him to heal from the infection he currently has.

"So, the action plan for this afternoon is to have the two theory lessons and then for Rigo and Danny to go back to the billet to chill for the last lesson," George says. That sounds like a good plan to me, not that there is any back up plan. Danny has probably only just got enough energy from the rest to go to the two lessons then he can nap before dinner. "That's good, I hope I can do physical training soon," Danny says. He wasn't aware of the news then. "In two weeks, it should be okay to start getting back into it," Rigo tells his brother. It has to be a slow start in case he undoes all his progress. I was tired myself and Danny seems to be still tired as he leaned against me. He was really excited to have a countable date to work towards now though.

He knows that he can't get too excited because it is not one hundred percent definite yet. Everything could change between today and the same day in two weeks' time. For Danny's sake I hope he feels a whole lot better and is on his way to being fully recovered by then. This has been a tough one for sure. Even I don't remember him being like this for this long. It has been a rough few days. It was probably made worse by the train ride over here to be honest. I would not have said Danny was fit to leave home, but at the same time he might not even be alive right now if he had not have left when he did. I hate how difficult that is. I feel like luck has been on our side with the excellent nurse and the amazing friends we have made.

_**2 hours later ~ Private Danny Murillo's point of view**_

I am enjoying the freedom I am getting while being here. I do miss my mother and sister a lot, but I needed to escape from my father, and they know that. We are currently in the middle of a theory lesson and I was learning a lot from it. The lessons we had this morning were more like revision sessions for me since I knew a lot of it already. Now we are learning about teamwork and other technical aspects of army life we need to learn. Jorel and I are already good at working together which will help us out if the keep us together. I think Jordon, Matt and Dylan will help make us a good little team or squad. The instructor put us all into a groups to build a crossing for a trench to prepare us for when we might go to the frontlines. They might even use me as a rescue dummy because they know about how much I know about first aid already. I know all that they are teaching us today.

"I want to help," I tell Jorel. I didn't want to be left behind on the side lines. The instructor does want to see all of us working together as a full team. None of this one person does all the hard work. One of the first things we were told is that we would get nowhere if we could not work in a team. The instructor was very impressed with our efforts. "Don't push yourself too much Murillo," the instructor tells me. He was being very kind about it all. I knew that all of the instructors know about my injures just not how I got them. I knew Jorel and Dylan would be making sure that I am kept from pushing myself past my limit. I was still able to participate in the task and helping the guys solving the puzzle we had been given.

I enjoyed problem solving and Jorel did too. We worked together with the others a lot better than I was expecting for it to go for my first group task as a private in the army. I was getting a little tired now, but I was going to stay awake while we have another theory lesson after this one ends. I was going to have a nap when the others have their next physical training session after the theory lessons are over for the day. I can't wait to be able to do physical training in a couple of weeks' time. I just need the infection to go and the cuts on my back to heal first and then slowly get into the physical training. It is all so that I don't push myself too far and send myself back to square one. I was going doing to be allowed to do much for a while anyway because that will be monitored the whole time we are doing it.

We did the task successfully and we are going to have a little break before we move on to some very light and basic first aid training. They have decided to let me be the demonstration dummy as long as people are gentle, and I don't mind. I can change my mind at any time. The lesson itself went really well. For me it was good to go over the basics again and everyone was being gentle with me which I appreciated. Jorel sat with me after the lesson ended. "So, we are only missing your sister to complete the Murillo sibling squad group," the instructor jokes. I know girls aren't really allowed in the army right now, maybe one day they will be. "Yeah she told me she wants to be a nurse so she might join one day," I tell him. It feels weird to have instructors who have taught both my brothers before they taught me.

Now it's time to go back to the billet and rest some more before it is dinner time. It is also some more one on one time with my brother Rigo which I am excited for. That is one good side to me being prevented from doing physical training. I am allowed in the billet on my own, but Rigo said he has nothing better to do while he has free time so he might as well use it to spend some rare time with me. When I am able to do more with training the time I get to spend privately with him will be quite dramatically reduced because he will be busy training the new and current recruits as they go through the ranks and distributed to where they are needed and I will be learning and going through the ranks as quickly as I am able to.

Rigo met Jorel and I outside of the billet. I can mostly walk by myself now unassisted, but it is nice to have them watch out for me. Rigo is also making sure I get to him in one piece and Jorel gets to go to his lesson on time. "Did you enjoy your first lessons?" Rigo asks me as we get into the billet. I am definitely feeling super tired now though. "Yeah, it was good to learn new things as well as get some revision done," I tell him. I think now it is day four of my freedom. Rigo seems to be warming up to the idea of me being here now. "Yeah, I am glad you feel okay here Danny. I was honestly so nervous about you being here and possibly thrown into a world war, but I feel more comfortable now," Rigo says. I knew he would feel this way at first and then change his mind later on. I hug him tightly.

We walk over to my bed and I flop down onto it. Rigo sits next to me and rubs my hair. "I am so glad I am with you. Don't get me wrong I miss mother and sister, but the atmosphere is so much nicer here," I tell him. I look at him and he smiles at me. I see a nap in the not so distant future for me. "At first, I thought it would have been so much better if you were back at home with mother and sister. Then I found out from mother what father did to you, so now I prefer it that you are here, and I can keep you safe," Rigo tells me. I wonder what father thinks has happened to me. I hope for my mother and sister's sake that he thinks I am dead right now. "Yeah if father wasn't the way he is then maybe I would still be at home," I tell him.

"True, unfortunately we will never know what life would be like without an abusive father. I don't think he is ever going to change," he tells me. Rigo is right, we are never going to know what a normal childhood was like since we are now adults and all we have ever known is that we will be hurt no matter what we have done. "Yeah maybe after the war he might change. To be honest I am just dreaming of having a normal family where I don't have the my father is abusive secret hanging over me," I tell him. It is wishful thinking that our father will ever be nice to his male children or super nice to his only daughter. "That's all everyone wants. Maybe mother might want a divorce and we can have a nice dad for the rest of our adult lives," Rigo said. I am not completely opposed to having a stepfather even now I am an adult.

It would be amazing to have complete home freedom from father, but at the same time I do not want to force mother into making quite a difficult decision like that. She did love him at some point, she might even still love him now. We want her to be happy and make choices for her own happiness and wellbeing. Not because her four children hate the man that helped create them and they want nothing more to do with him. "Maybe Rigo. I want mother to make the choice though. Whatever is best for her," I tell him, and he smiles at me. I think he'd feel the same way to be honest. "Yeah definitely, I feel bad for being here too, but I know she is proud of us and she knows we are somewhat safer here than staying at home," he tells us.

I yawn after a while because I am still tired and Rigo coos at me. It makes me so tempted to push him off the bed. "Somebody is tired," Rigo teases and I shove him. He laughs and pushes me as gently as he possibly could. "I might take a nap before we have to go to dinner. I seem to be napping a little more especially before a mealtime at the moment," I tell him. It is true I napped before lunch time today and I seem to be needing to nap now as well. It might happen daily while I recover from my injuries, no one knows for sure at this point. I have not really experienced something so intense like army training after a beating quite so severe as this. Café work was not too bad as it was something light and the team was understanding when I needed a break.

"You will be feeling more tired than normal, you are fighting off an infection while you recover from a major beating. You are also doing a lot more work that is physically more demanding than your café job. Once you have healed then you'll be okay and less tired," Rigo tells me and I nod. This is the weirdest time I have had since my first full on beating when I was five. I yawn again and Rigo covers me with a blanket. I am not going to fall asleep now, I am going to stay awake until after dinner. The guys have one half hour session of physical training after dinner and we have to be in top form when we are fighting in the war. We know that at some point we will be fighting in the war whether we want to or not.

"You can sleep as much as you need to Danny. They will understand why. I think we could even have dinner in here, but I'd have to check with some people first," Rigo tells me. We had dinner in the billet on our first night here. The lull of sleep is almost too good to resist, and I close my eyes for a moment. "Shh, Danny might be sleeping," I hear Jorel tell someone else. I think I did actually manage to fall asleep for a little while because it seems now that the lesson has ended. I open my eyes and smile at Rigo who was still keeping a close eye on me. "Hey Danny, how are you feeling?" Jorel asks me, and I give him a thumbs up. "I am alright Jay, just tired and I think the antibiotics are getting to work now," I tell him.

"That's good Danny, you will be back to your usual self in no time," he tells me. I know he will be right about this as usual. Surprisingly considering how badly I have been doing during my recovery this is not actually the worst beating I have ever had in my life. When I was a lot younger there was a worse one and I nearly died. I think it is definitely almost dinner time now as the rest of the guys have arrived. "Sorry if I woke you up Danny," Jordon tells me. I smile at him; he is so nice and considerate to others. "You didn't wake me up. I kinda woke up myself about a minute or so before you arrived," I tell him. He gives me a gentle hug and I sit up properly to hug him back. We are going to walk towards the mess hall, can't have our dinner in the billet this time. They were nice and gave the others lunch in the nurse tent yesterday.

I will be okay walking on my own since my back isn't bothering me that much right now. "Dinner time boys," George tells us. Jorel still lets me be the last one to leave so I can take my time with walking, so I don't overdo it and I don't hold the others up. "You good to walk Danny?" he asks me. I nod and he carefully pulls me to my feet. I show him that I am able to walk unaided, and we walk together to the mess hall. "How are you enjoying army life so far?" I ask him. I am definitely enjoying my time in the army despite the minor mishaps that have happened. He knows that I am happy. "Yeah, it is good. I am glad that you seem happier now that you are away from him," Jorel tells me and I smile. I love having people who actually care about me like I care for them. I care so much about my friends and it is nice to see them care back.

I enjoy these conversations with my friends like this. It is nice to be able to have deep conversations in a place as serious as the army. You'd think that there'd be more officers patrolling around here and telling us to shush but there isn't. Everyone has gone for food apart from two officers to make sure each recruit gets to the right place until they know the routine off by heart. Even those guys let us talk about whatever we want to within reason. Obviously we avoid talking about the war and anything that could potentially get us into trouble. Jorel and I are pretty good at knowing what subjects we can or can't talk about. We know we are not trouble twins just, yet we need to settle in and figure out what we can get away with first.

Not that I am in any fit state right now to do anything prank wise. I am also being watched by more officers than I usually would if I was healthy. That means I can't even attempt anything because they would be doing their best to keep me safe and prevent any incidents like my fainting episode on the train. Jorel was making sure that I took my time and I was going to not overdo it if I was not going to fall over any time soon. I have been feeling dizzy a couple of times yesterday and when I first got out of bed this morning. The nurses tent didn't exactly have a comfortable bed and I was on my back not curled up like I usually am when I fall asleep. Especially since I have the wounds on my back, so putting pressure on it hurts.

Speaking of feeling dizzy, I got a little dizzy just after the little bump in the ground as we walked. I am okay though. "I am very much enjoying army life. I am happier here for sure," I tell him. He knows things that went on back home that I haven't even told Rigo yet. I confided a lot in Jorel when my older brothers were away. "Yeah, I love the happy Danny. If only your dad could leave you and your brothers alone," Jorel tells me. That would literally be a dream come true. I am more confident in walking on my own as we arrive at the mess hall. "Glad to see you up and walking," one of my brother's friends tells me. I thank him and make it to the table where the others are. There are two stacked trays where I am going to sit.

My current treatment plan includes extra meals so that I can put weight on which will help with my energy levels as well as my recovery from my last beating. "I know you don't feel comfortable with the extra meal, but I promise it will help you," George tells me, and I smile at him. Someone higher up will have agreed with the nurse and put an order in top make sure I have extra meals until the nurse clears me and I am the weight she would be satisfied with. "I know, it's just a lot to get used to though," I tell him. Matt smiles at me, I still know him the least out of everyone. Then again, he is so like me personality wise. He's warming up to everyone slowly, it is not just me. I also see myself being like him and I am struggling to open up to Dylan, Matt and Jordon. I've never had this many friends before.

"Matt, do you want to have a drawing done tonight?" I ask him. It was going to be a good way for us to get to know each other a little more. "Yeah, if it doesn't bother you that much. Like I don't want you to overdo it," he replies. I smile back at him and then take a spoonful of milk biscuit pudding. Considering we were all be trained to eat on rationed food, this is the nicest thing I have had. Possibly the nicest thing I have ever eaten. "It won't bother me Matt. I think that it will be a nice way to relax after a long day of training and working hard," I tell him, and he smiles. "Dan, quick question. How on earth can you eat that?" Dylan asks me. I don't think he likes the pudding as much as everyone else. "It is nice, I have had a lot worse meals before now. You learn to deal with what life gives you," I tell him.

I was basically admitting to them that mine and Rigo's father has starved us, so we ate anything we were given. I was getting full on my second serving of the pudding, so I hope he doesn't decide to offer me his. I definitely would not be able to eat it. I can barely eat what I have right now in front of me. "You need to suck it up and eat it Dylan. You need all the energy you can get, and all of our meals have been made with the calorie content to be high enough to keep you going. You don't want to end up in the infirmary," George tells him, which is true, you need to eat and drink plenty throughout the day especially when you are doing a lot of physical effort. I chuckled as Dylan pulled a face but carried on eating the milk biscuit pudding anyway. "See it is not so bad Dylan" Rigo tells him and I laughed at Dylan's reaction to the comment.

I love seeing different peoples reactions to the food that we are given. I was essentially raised on army rations growing up, so I am used to it by now. Jorel has had some too when he has stayed at my house when he has had a disagreement at home. He was essentially raising us as if we were an army of our own. Even thought we all did not have desires to be in the army ourselves at first. Then we realised that it would be better if we went off and joined the army where we would be away from the man who introduced us to the life. It is weird how it all turned out but at least we are all safe here and we don't have to be worried about being hurt anymore. At least not from father, he can't hurt us, but the enemy could.

"Danny's right, this is one of the best meals I have had," Jordon says, when you come from a low-income background some of the meals they have are unlike anything they have ever eaten in their lives. We wold eat rations at home because our father would keep a lot of the money for herself and would only give our mother the money that we would need for the week. "Fair enough, I guess my upbringing has a lot to do with it," Dylan tells us. His parents are quite wealthy, so he is going to be just to all the expensive foods. "That could be behind it. Then again milk biscuit pudding is not really a common thing even to someone who is on a low income," I tell him. It is more of a thing now because of the war. We were starting to serve it in the café before we closed.

I manage to walk with the guys back to our billet. Matt sits on the bed next to me. I am still going to draw him so that he can have something to send back his family like the rest of our group will. We can't really send them photographs yet, so this is the next best thing. Cameras are incredibly expensive. I look at Matt and quickly work out what position I am going to draw him in. I grab my paper and the pencil I sued when I was drawing the other portraits. "I just need to sit still right Dan?" he asks me. I had already started the rough outline of his shoulders. "Yeah and you can talk until I am working on your lips really. I enjoy doing these portraits and I have a lot back home," I tell him. I was getting really good at drawing them and letting them move around and talk while I work on the finer details.

"Oh, that's good Danny. I am sorry if I have been rude to you since we first met. I have problems trusting people at first. I do trust you though one hundred percent," he tells me. I figured that trust problems would be a thing that affects a lot of people. I am not the only one it seems. "That is fair enough Matt, I understand why you would trust people less at first. I get the same way when I am meeting someone for the first time," I tell him, being honest with him. I am going to put as much detail into his outfit as possible while I am focusing on it. Since I am not focusing on his face Rigo uses it as the prefect opportunity to show Matt the drawings I have done so far of George, himself and me. "Wow Danny, these are incredibly good," Matt tells me.

An hour and a half later (roughly, there is no way of telling the time here) I was done with the entire drawing. I show matt while the others are getting ready for the night. "Oh my god, Danny this is amazing. Thank you," he tells me. I smile at him. I really enjoy and like making people feel good. I hug him carefully and he hugs me back. "You're welcome Matt. I am glad you like it," I tell him. Then it is our turn to get ready for bed. Jorel hugs me tightly, still affected by the events of yesterday. I thought that there was gonna be more issues for me and sleeping and being separated from people. "Danny can I stay with you tonight?" Jorel asks me, talking very quietly to not get too embarrassed in case people were listening in.

"Of course, you can Jay. I don't mind hugging you all night," I tell him. We walk over to my bed when I am all ready for sleep. My boots have a good layer of polish on them which I will take off before morning parade/announcements. I have settled into the schedule quite well already even though it is the third night. I get into bed first and snuggle up to Jorel when he gets in. He falls asleep before me, which was weird, but I enjoyed seeing my brother looking peaceful for once. The emergency yesterday definitely scared him a lot. I manage to fall asleep after him in barely anytime which is good.

_**And that is the end of chapter 5 I hope you enjoyed. See you next time**_.

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	6. Chapter 6

Paradise Lost Chapter 6

_**Apologies in advance for how long it took to update the book. I have more time to update now.**_

_**30**__**th**__** January 1917 – Private Daniel Murillo's point of view**_

Today marks two weeks since we started training and we can now send letters to our families. Also, I am going to be assessed by the nurse to see if I am physically fit enough to be able to exercise with the rest of them. I am the first one up since I have had another nightmare. Rigo is the second one up and he sees me. "Are you okay Danny?" he asks me, and I nod. I don't want to worry my big brother more than he has been by me lately. "Yeah, just had a nightmare is all," I tell him. He sits on the edge of the bed and frowns at me, he doesn't like it when I have nightmare even though it's not my fault. "Poor bear, do you want to have another rest day?" he asks me, the two weeks can go on for longer if I need it too.

"I'm not sure yet, let's see how the medical evaluation goes first," I tell him. The nurse might tell me that I do need another day or two off and then I will have no say in the matter. I will make sure if they let me do it that I will not overdo it. "Okay Danny, just as long as you know that you can rest if you need to," he tells me. I don't think we have to get up right this moment. I could fall back to sleep because the others are not awake. "Can I go back to sleep?" I ask Rigo, I am still not sure what the schedule is yet. My older brother knows the schedule like the back of his hand he has been living here for so long. "Yeah sure, I'll wake you up when it is breakfast time," he tells me. That's good, I trust him with my life. "Can you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone," I tell him.

"Sure thing Danny, I can stay with you," he tells me. I budge up in the bed so that Rigo has more room to lay down with me. I snuggle up with him and I close my eyes so I can fall back to sleep soon. Rigo starts rubbing my back just below where the cuts used to be and just healed. "I missed this Rigo," I tell him. When we were both at home we would often lay in his room and cuddle up like this to get away from father. It helps that there is a ten-year age gap between us. When I was very little I used to cry a lot because I was terrified and Rigo would cuddle up to me like that in the furthest room he could get me in, and I would eventually fall asleep. It quickly became the only way you could get me to sleep as a kid.

"Me too Dan. At least now we can both naturally feel relaxed without worrying about anything," he tells me. Like I mentioned before, all of our brotherly time usually had the motive of getting away from our father because we were scared. For some reason when we were hidden like that he didn't really bother us, but he would wait until the second one of us will leave the room to harm either whoever is still in the room or whoever left. Basically he was an opportunistic bastard and it is not hard to see why my family and anyone who hears about how he treats his children hates his guts. I'm still transitioning I feel. It is hard to really comprehend that I am free from him for now. Like I am still expecting him to show up and to ruin things like he always does. This is a nice change though; I like the peace.

"I have got to say that the last month or so has been really weird. It has been a good kinda weird though," I tell him. Then I yawn, I was surprised I didn't wake anyone up. I make sure I am still snuggled up with him. This time I am laying my head on his chest. "Yep, I never thought that my little brother would be in the army. Here you are in the same military camp as me and it is the best decision you have ever made. I did have my doubts initially about whether or not it was time for you to be here, but I do think you are better off here," he tells me. He's right, I am safer right here in the army than I would be if I was still at home with our father. "Yeah, long may the happiness continue," I tell him, just as I fall asleep.

I was expecting Rigo to still be angry about me being here if I was being honest. I know that he was not happy with the state my health was in when I first got here and then I almost died already and that was all because of one man. It wasn't like oh I got attacked for being his brother or anything like that. Although I know for a fact that if something like that were to happen then Rigo would start a riot because he is a super protective big brother and would probably murder someone to protect me. If it ever boiled down to it I am pretty sure that he would murder father if it came to it and they got into a fight with each other. It does scare me sometimes that it could become kill or be killed, especially when it is Rigo and father because they are equally as strong in my opinion.

_**~ a few hours later~**_

"Breakfast time little bear," Rigo tells me, just as I wake up. I must have woken up super early before. It feels like I have slept a longer time than I did the first time around. Jorel is sitting on the edge of the bed and smiles at me when our eyes met. "Morning," I tell them both. I sit up and put my boots on because we probably need to get going soon. "Good morning Danny," Jorel tells me. I hope the nurse tell me that I can start slowly getting back into physical training from today. I walk with them over to the mess hall for breakfast. I am used to being the last man awake in our billet, it just naturally happens because they all want me to get as much rest as possible. However, I am not the last one up in the entire camp. That guy seems to be doomed to do laps every morning while we are being trained here.

"Morning Danny, how are you?" Matt asks me when we reach the table. I sit down in between Rigo and Jorel like usual. "I'm feeling good, how are you?" I ask him. I didn't think that it was weird that we sometimes start our conversations like we have either just met or that we have not seen each other in a while. "That's good Dan," Matt replies. I am not the only one who is anxious about today. They are all anxiously waiting for my nurse evaluation. They can't wait for me to join in the physical training sessions with them. Jordon says there is a guy who would brag about his abilities and he needs taking down a peg or two. I am more than willing to help with that. I am so ready to help use my knowledge to make things more interesting.

"I bet Brody is going to brag again this morning. I am surprised that he has not run out of things to brag about," Jordon tells me. They have one hour of PT every morning and I am missing the morning session because of the evaluation. "Brody is going to get knocked down a peg or two real soon," Jorel says, then he looks at me. Physically I am very fit and active, so I could probably beat Brody no issue. I smile at him. "Yeah, I think I can knock this Brody guy down a peg or two," I tell Jordon. This guy seems like he'd be my definition of first-class douchebag if I am being totally honest with you. Jordon seems so happy that I have offered my help to knock some sense into Brody. I think Jordon might have some self-confidence issues which Brody isn't helping with.

"Everyone is quite interested to see how you do tonight if you are allowed to do the evening session. You are probably the shortest yet fittest recruit," Rigo says. He has to make a reference to how short I am whenever possible. The instructors were incredibly impressed by how easily I handled the rifle during the training sessions I have had so far. I did have some experience with the rifle prior to arriving at the camp, but it wasn't much or even worth noting. Rigo has the most experience with them out of everything. "Yeah I can't wait to get out there and show them what I can do," I tell him. I feel fine now. I don't feel as bad as I did when I first arrived and dealt with the infection. It feels like everything is going right for me right now.

I nudged Rigo in the ribs for calling me short again. Yeah that's a fact that I am the shortest in our friend group and probably the entire camp, but he doesn't need to bring it up as frequently as he does. He just shook his head at me and nudged me back. We have to be careful with what we do though because we are under the watchful eye of the more senior officers. They will tell us off if we are being too rough with each other because they all want us to get along and not fight with each other. That's the theory behind it anyway. I guess guys like Brody make it a little more difficult for those who just want to get along with army training. Not everyone has the amount of free hours apparently Brody had from what I just heard to put into physical exercise. Some of us have got to work hard jobs to get money for our families.

The guys who go off to do their morning run while I go to the nurse. I am still on extra rations until the nurse tells me that I am a healthy enough weight where those extra rations are no longer required. I walk over to the infirmary tent. I have found walking a lot easier now that my back is pretty much completely healed. There is still a little bit of healing left, but not much. "Hello Private Murillo, take a seat," the nurse tells me as I walk in. I sit down on the bed like she told me to do. I take my shirt off so she could have a good look at my back. I also haven't been mixed up with Rigo which is a plus. "How have you been feeling?" she asks me. All she knows about what happened is that I got into a fight with someone before I came to the camp and training began, she's not allowed to know much more than that.

"I've been feeling a lot better thank you," I tell her, and I was being honest. She smiles at me. It didn't hurt once when she was touching my back. She also gives me a full head to toe check-up while I'm here. "Your back looks a lot better," she tells me, it has almost completely scarred over now. She asks me a few more questions on my health and well-being. I didn't find the nightmares were at this point worth mentioning. They are not that bad and manageable right now. "I don't see how you won't be able to start slowly getting back into physical activity as long as you stay within your limits and rest when you need to," she tells me. I couldn't help but cheer when she said that, it means I can run tonight, and I don't have to be in bed all the time I am not in the lesson. I can be me again.

"I will look after myself. Big brother Rigo will make sure of it," I tell her, and she smiles again. She knows Rigo is my brother and she knows him well. He has worked here for well over a year at this point. "Of course Sergeant Major Murillo will keep an eye on you while you are both here. You make sure he knows though," she tells me. Rigo is going to ask me when he sees me next anyway. Even if I don't tell him he will find out. "He will know, don't worry," I tell her, and she chuckles. She's the nicest nurse I have ever met. She let me leave not too long after that, since there is nothing else she can do while I am healthy. I can't join this late into this morning's session of running, so I have to wait until the next session which is before bedtime regardless.

"Hey Danny, what's the verdict?" Rigo asks me when he sees me. Just like I had predicted he would. "All clear to start as long as I stay within my limits and rest when I need to," I tell him. Then I tell him everything that the nurse and I discussed. I hug him and he hugs me back. "That's good Danny. I will make sure you take your rest when you need it," he tells me, and I smile at him. He is so protective of me. It is a good thing; he often took hits for Kyle and I when he thought that our father had beaten us enough. I can't wait until this evening when I can run for the first time in three weeks. It is like everything is finally falling into place. Now all I need is to reunite with Kyle, survive the war and get back to our mother and sister then everything will truly be perfect.

I think we have another practical type lesson today. It was announced this morning that we are being tested from today onwards and when we pass all the test we can go up a level and get a promotion if we are worthy of one. They did mention they were looking to see who could possibly be worth promoting twice just to help us get through the training quickly because they are really preparing for war. With Germany becoming a bigger threat we have to be prepared for anything that might happen. We haven't really faced anything like this that I have known at least. I tended to not pay much attention to the military news because I heard enough complaining from my father. As soon as we heard about the war going on in Europe my father started complaining while he beat us every day.

Jorel hugged me tightly when he saw me. "Brody won't know what hit him tonight," Rigo tells him, and Jorel grins. That was my way of telling them I had be cleared for physical training. "That's great Danny," Jay tells me. He knows how much I have been wanting to join in and do all of the training with them. "Yeah, I finally get to feel fully involved with the training now," I tell him. During our free time we are going to be writing our letters home so that they can be sent today. Mine is going to be hidden in Rigo's letter so father can't find it. I don't want him to find it if I was being honest. Next lesson is on the firing range.

"Are we being tested today?" Dylan asks me. Like I mentioned before we are starting to get tested now so we can progress onto our next stage and they can bring in new recruits. "I think so, but you don't need to be worried about it. You're great at this," I tell him as we walk to the firing range with the others. Jorel was walking a little bit behind me but he smiled when I looked at him. Then he walked a little faster so that he was in line and right next to me. I am starting to get a little panicky. My anxiety keeps making me think my father is around, but I know right at this moment he isn't, and he doesn't even know I am here. "Don't worry Danny," Jorel whispers to me. Then he wraps his arm around my waist like he does sometimes. I take a deep breath through my nose. Fuck panic attacks, I hate them so much.

"You two take a minute or two out here," George tells Jorel and I when we get to the firing range. Even he knew I was having a panic attack right now. The safety brief that we are going to get from the instructor I can recite from the top of my head and so can Jorel, so we are okay to miss that. I sit with Jorel outside of the indoor range while I try my best to calm down. "Do you know Danny, I hate that guy who hurt you?" he says, deliberately being vague because someone is probably trying to eavesdrop. His hatred for my father is probably as strong as mine at this point. "Yeah, I hate him too," I reply. I'm still taking deep breaths and slowly getting myself back into a calm state so we could get on with testing. "Are you okay now Danny?" George asks us. We are still both outside, so there was no real need for formalities right now. "Yeah, I feel a lot better now," I tell him.

"That's good, now go and ace that test," he tells me. I mock salute him and he gently shoves me. I walk with Jorel into the firing range just as the safety brief we both knew was ending. I am going to ace this test. I saw Brody and walked straight past him to join the others. Wes sit and listen to the last bit of the thing and answer some questions to prove we understand what the safety rules. The instructor noticed I was in the room now. "Private Murillo, why don't you show them how it's done?" the instructor asks. As he knows I know a lot from what Rigo has been teaching me when he can. I am also good at using the weapons already, so this should be good. Brody is going to probably haste me by the end of this.

I go through all the steps like I was born to do this. When I fired the rifle I manage to hit it right in the centre of the target evert single time. When I had finished my test I saw so many people's jaws had dropped. "A definite pass Private Murillo," the instructor tells me. I was relieved, and I high fived Jorel when I sat back down. I felt better that I was the first one to do the test. I have slight anxiety over these sorts of things, so in my mind it was better for me to get it over and done with. I was also the demonstration, so I was the only one who went. Now they are going in groups of four so that we can get all of the testing done in time and to deal with any problems that may occur like the gun jamming. Now the instructor tells everyone else which groups they will be in. I am going to enjoy just watching this go on because for the rest of the lesson I can just chill out.

"Knew you could do it," Jorel whispers. I smiled and looked like I was paying attention as someone asked for a repetition of the what to do if you fire the gun, but it misfires. The instructor sighed but did proceed to give another full brief to us. He was going to have me come up and show what to do, but he was ready to get our class over and done with because even he could tell some of the recruits were not the sharpest tools in the shed so to speak. Brody was definitely one who was a brawn over brains kinda guy. He wasn't paying much attention until he got shouted at. I sniggered because I was finding this whole situation funny. I can see why Rigo says that he is entertained by people watching while he trains recruits.

Brody looked very miffed at my skill, because of my injuries I have been hiding my true potential from him. Also I guess it does pay to have an older sibling or two in the army. Jorel, Dylan, Jordon and Matt were up next. They also all passed with flying colours since they never missed their targets, but I have to say it wasn't as good as mine. Brody was in one of the last groups to go. The ego he has is already being deflated as he was the only guy who missed pretty much all of his targets. I was clearly the best at shooting which was amazing. I am good at something for once in my life. "You should have seen the look on Brody's face. That was classic," Jordon says when we left the firing range. We do get a short break now.

Now we can write home to our families or friends. I have also done two drawings for every guy in the billet. They are sending one of them home to their families. "Still going to hide your letter in mine Danny. Hopefully it won't be seen by father," Rigo tells me. The guys do know what is going on at home to some degree. As far as father is aware, I am dead right now. Well, that is what we want him to believe and are hoping he believes. "At least your mother will feel happy knowing that you are safe right?" Matt asks. She will be worrying about me for sure. "Yeah, she'll be worrying about me. She'll worry less when she gets my letter and Rigo's to confirm I am safe and healthy," I tell him. She can let Lisa read it as well. Our sister worries about the three of us just as much as mother does sometimes.

"What I still don't get is how a father gets joy out of hurting three of his children," Jordon says. It is a fair point to make, anyone new to our situation would not understand it as much. Not even we know ourselves how he gets so much pleasure out of it. It is really hard to wrap your head around it. "Yeah, I have been wondering that myself for the last thirty years at least. I guess all of us being too poor to move out doesn't help us," Rigo says. I don't mention it, but it also doesn't help having a controlling father who takes any money you earn, so he can spend it on booze. Not in the running for father of the year that much I can say. "After the war and when we all go home you can both come and live with me. Then we'll get your sister, brother and mother free," Dylan tells us. I smile at him. That's a pretty nice thing to offer someone you've known for like three weeks.

"That's such a nice offer Dylan, we appreciate it," Rigo says. I am probably going to accept that offer. That's if we make it out alive. There is a huge risk of dying from going on the frontlines for all of us or another way for Rigo and I when we get home. Father would most likely kill me if he sees me again, and Rigo might pass him in rank which would make him angry. "Yeah, that is amazing Dylan. When we get back to Los Angeles, I will take you up on that," I tell him. Dylan smiles at me, he's been desperate to do something since he took me to Jake when I got beaten up. "Okay Danny, when we get home there will definitely be a room for you," he tells me. I know his family is rich, so they will have a big house with loads of spare rooms, better than our three-bedroom home we are squashed into. Maybe if I do live with Dylan I can keep all of my wages when I go back to work in the café. I can't wait to see my mother happy again, she loved my café job.

For us it was a way to escape our real life. You don't have to focus on what troubles you when you can sit in the corner and knit teddy bears and blankets like my mother used to do. Then she got permission from Jake to have them sold and he'd keep all her supplies and money here so that it was away from the clutches of her husband who would even go as far as to steal money from his wife and children to fuel his alcohol addiction. I don't know anyone whose father does that to their families. Then again I am not confident in sharing my story to many people so I wouldn't know if anyone would sympathise with me and my siblings. I wouldn't even know if this sort of thing happens to anyone else in the level it does to us.

"Hey Dylan, I don't mean to be rude but if your family is so rich then why are you here?" Jorel asks. I am about halfway through writing my letter to my mother, but I was still listening to the conversations going on around me. "It's okay Jorel. My parents have always taught me to be grateful for what I have, so I have the chance to fight for my country and I will do so," Dylan says. That is very admirable to be fair, he could have easily used his rich privileges to stay at home and be a spoiled brat. "Fair enough Dylan, we are glad to have you here," Jordon says, and I am sure everyone else agrees. He is right as well; Dylan is a good friend and very good company to have. I appreciate how non-judgemental everyone is. Everyone is so diverse it is amazing.

"He's right, you could have stayed at home. You are a good friend," I say, looking up from my paper. I was one of few people who is literate. My father sent us to the best school and spend so much money to make sure we could have the best education possible. That was the only good thing he has done. "I do not know why I am writing this, my parents are barely literate," Matthew says. I am sure he has mentioned that he has a sister back at home. "Can your sister read and write?" I ask him. I have a plan for Matthew if I get the answer I need. "Yeah I was taught to read and write by her," he tells me, and I smile at him. "That means your sister could read the letter to your parents," I tell him, which makes him smile at me.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I will add a letter to my sister, so she knows to read the other one to our parents," Matt tells us. That will be good then, I am sure that Matthew's parents will be very happy to receive an update on their son. "There we go, Danny solves another problem for his friends," Jorel says, and I gently shove him. We truly act like brothers most of the time. We even have little squabbles like brothers do. George smirks at Jorel and I messing around with each other. When I had finished writing my letter, Jorel decided it was the best time to start wrestling with me. We stayed on the bed, so that we do not injure each other while George laughed at us. It is weird how much we can get up to when we are not under the strict supervision of the other officers.

"Come on you two, it is lunch time now," Rigo says, he is cautious when we start wrestling with each other. He gets so worried about ether of us hurting each other while we are wrestling each other because we can get rough at times. Jorel lets me go and we both get up. I was so glad that I do not have to take medication on a daily basis anymore. I sometimes struggled with the medication and the taste was not the best. I can't believe I am an adult, but I can't take the medications sometimes because they get stuck in the back of your throat. That's when it tastes the worst and I am begging for something sweet to take the nasty taste away. Kind of makes me feel like I want to take them while we eat dinner or whenever it is mealtime, but I don't want people to think I am choking on the medication.

"Are you okay Danny?" Rigo asks me, as we walk to the mess hall. He wraps his arm around my shoulder. "I guess so, I think writing home is making me miss mother and sister more than I did already," I tell him. This is the first time I have been away from home for any long period of time. Rigo and George have been away for longer than I have. He hugs me tightly and I hug him back. "I know Danny, it is going be hard at first. It will get easier in time, you are doing really well though," Rigo tells me. I hope he is right on this one as he has been right with a lot of things before. A lot of soldiers have home sickness at the moment. I am not alone in this which is not that bad really when you think about it. We will all get through this eventually. For a lot of us it will be our first time ever away from our families and that is a lot to get used to which is why I am thankful that the army life does get so busy.

Brody looks really pissed off when he saw me walk into the mess hall. I think he is going to be one of the few who hates me, but he hates my brother as well. He is so easily jealous, and a lot of people think that I get special treatment because of my brother. "Hey Murillo, good job on the range today," one of Rigo's friends tells me. I thank him and smile. The nurse said it would be the best thing for me is to keep eating double rations for at least another four weeks with regular weigh ins. She thinks that I will lose weight now that I am back doing exercise and my metabolism is quite fast. "Still on double servings?" George asks me, and I nod. "She thinks I am going to lose weight now I can do physical training," I tell him. Dylan spoons in some of his pudding into mine when he thinks I am not looking, and I look to the ceiling.

"Mysterious God of food," I tell them, and Dylan chuckles. He still doesn't like the milk biscuit pudding and we keep getting it because there are a limit amount of choices even the army can afford during this war. We get at least two servings of it a day. "Luckily for you Danny likes it so much," Jorel says. I laugh at Dylan who tries to give me even more of the pudding. I push his spork away with mine. I will be full by the time I finish my own servings that I have been given let alone any further extras. "I'll have it if you don't want it Dylan," Matt tells him. I guess he likes milk biscuit pudding as much as I do. Dylan spoons half of his pudding onto Matt's tray. Matt eats the rest of the pudding straight away and we chuckle at him. We can be so silly sometimes and I love it.

"We have our fieldcraft test after lunch, don't forget the aim is that I don't find you," Rigo says. He is doing the test and he has to treat me like I am not his brother and I am just another cadet. We have to blend in with our surroundings and see if Rigo can find us or not. This was to test all that he has been teaching us. I hope that everyone in our little friendship group passes the test. I have been helping them as much as I can with revision. "I hope you ace it Dan. You're the best at hide and seek," Jorel tells me. It is true, when we were little we used to go out and play hide and seek all the time. We would stay out till late at night and he would find me eventually. It was fun trying to challenge him without worrying him too much.

"Yeah I remember spending all day in a tree hiding from you," I tell him. He found me when we got called for bed and I climbed out of the tree. Mother knew I was there because she gave me lunch and dinner while I was up there. "No climbing trees this time Danny. The enemy can't be shot from above and you'd be seen quicker," Rigo tells me. That does make sense and it would probably result in a straight up fail. I hope he tells everyone that before the test. He might have some problems with that otherwise. "I will stay out of the trees Rigo," I tell him and pretend to sulk a little bit. He does know that I will keep my promise though and stay away from trees. I itch my eyebrow and then stack my trays on top of the others. "I have never seen someone itch their eyebrow before," Jordon says. "It just gets itchy sometimes," I tell him, resisting the urge to scratch it again.

I have had many cuts on my eyebrows over the years so much, so I have a chunk just permanently missing from my eyebrow now on the right side. The cuts have made it itchy from time to time. I smile at Jorel who itches his own eyebrow when I winked at him. He's a very weird friend but I am so glad to have him. We have a few moments spare to walk back to the billet to put our personal cutlery and mugs away in our room like we do after every mealtime. It is something that I don't think people remember when it comes to what you need in the army. It's nice to have a mug with Private Daniel Murillo written on it in the way that it has been engraved into the mug. It is hard to keep track of hundreds of recruits and their personal belongings, so our names or initials were engraved into our mugs and cutlery. That way no one can complain someone else has their mug because they should have their own.

I love having lessons with Rigo. In my mind in a strange way it's like my childhood but with more people and less angry father telling us off for any mistakes we made because we made a few when we were learning. I am starting to think that I have a rather odd way of looking at things because I doubt someone Jorel or Rigo would think the same way I would. I like to think outside the box sometimes. Rigo had left before we had, and he was standing there like he had just ran there. He probably did some laps to pass the time before the recruits arrived. It was something Kyle used to complain about a lot when they were being taught how to teach new recruits, so they had something to do while they were not on the frontlines.

"Right, this test is all about how well you can stay hidden from the enemy. I only have a few rules. Firstly, no cheating. Secondly, no hiding in trees, and thirdly, try your best," Rigo says, once everyone arrived on the field. I hate the cam cream you have to put on your face the most out of fieldcraft. It takes forever to get it off your face after you have put it on your face, and we don't have access to a lot of hot water unless you make a fire or something. It does work really well though when you put the right amount on. I looked at Brody who already finished putting his camo cream on. He put too much on, I could tell that right away. Rigo is going to find Brody so easily when it is time to find everyone. "Right I am not going to look so go and hide," Rigo commands. We all go running in different directions.

I find the best hiding spot basically under Rigo's nose. This is going to be so much fun I can tell. Jorel was quite close to me. I decided to roll over just as Rigo said he was going to start looking for us and if he calls our names we are out. I hold back a giggle because I didn't want to reveal myself. The last thing I need is to fail this test. I am doing so well with all my tests so far. I know physical training will be the last thing I need to pass to pass basic training overall. Since I am only starting physical training tonight after dinner I don't think I will be tested straight away. it might be a few lessons before I get tested, but we will see how it goes. They don't think I am going to be that far if at all far behind the rest of the new recruits who arrived at the same time as me. My back is fine now and I know that Rigo has helped me a lot.

Unsurprisingly Brody was one of the first five people who got found. Matt owes me $2 after dinner. "Private Morgan is a perfect example of someone with too much camouflage cream on his face," Rigo tells me. The one who had too little camouflage cream on his face was found first. They all failed the test, if you get caught by Rigo then you fail the test and have to do it again. I thought Rigo would have found me by now honestly. He knows my habits and I would be easiest to recognise in the crowd. I think it is getting close to the end of the test no. I notice less names are being called out. Luckily mine, Jorel, Jordon, Matt and Dylan's names have not been called out yet. I keep seeing Jorel wiggling his fingers at me, trying to make me laugh out loud.

"Well done to those I have not found. You have all passed," Rigo says, and we all get up from our hiding spots. We of course wouldn't do this if we were on the battlefield. Jorel high fived me and we walked over to Rigo. I was ignoring all of the looks because of my brother being the one who passed me. We have one more theory lesson before dinner since this was technically two lessons. "I can't wait to get this stuff off my face," Jordon says, when we walk over to our next lesson. We will have a chance to clean our faces before dinner time. "Yeah me too, it's starting to get uncomfortable," I tell him. It does feel really gross on my face now that I have started to sweat a little bit. I was so glad this was a short lesson. I can't wait to go and get this cream off my face.

The lesson is a short recap on the first aid skills we have been going through before we get tested on them in two days' time. I can't wait to get all of the tests done and pass basic training with everyone. I don't want my injuries to hold me back because I have worked hard to keep up with everyone and I haven't been told by any adult instructor that I can't do a test yet apart from the physical exercise one but that was because I had been told by the nurse not to until tonight. I catch up to Rigo and smile at him. He's a very good teacher, and I think I helped with that because I was trying to give him a little bit of advice when he asked without offending him. I know Brody is the type of guy that would eventually piss Rigo off. I can see it making Rigo sigh and do the thing Rigo normally does when he is annoyed and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Dan was it you who rolled over at the start?" Rigo asks me when we get to the billet. I look at Jorel and we both burst out laughing. "Yeah it was me," I tell him. I was hoping that he hadn't seen me. I managed to pass though so it was okay. "I saw you and I though that because it had just started I would give you a second chance," Rigo says, it was definitely just after he said he started looking for us. "I freaking loved it when Brody got discovered. The look on his face was priceless," Jordon says. It was quite amusing, he looked so irritated especially when Rigo told him that he had too much camouflage cream on. I had just managed to take all of mine off and I had the right amount on. Brody is going to struggle with his.

We get it off just in time to head to dinner. "Dylan are you going to share the milk biscuit pudding with Mattie and Dan?" George asks Dylan, just as we reach the mess hall. We kinda know what is about to go down. "Yeah they can fight amongst themselves and have it," Dylan says, and Matt cheers. I'm definitely going to have to learn how they make this so I can add it to the menu at the café or just make it at home. It might be popular in the café who knows. "If Danny keeps eating this then we might just fatten him up," Jay says, and I push him. I am not going to get fat on milk biscuit pudding, that much I do know. I run way to much for it to be a thing. "If you think Danny is going to get fat on milk biscuit pudding then you don't know my brother," Rigo says.

"Sorry Dan, I know you won't get fat," Jay says. I hug him and he hugs me back. I know there was no malicious intend with that. "I forgive you," I tell him, and we go to the table we always sit at. Everyone seems to have developed a routine of which table they sit on every mealtime. We also have the same seats every time. It is quite interesting to see how quickly routines and habits develop over time. "Are you up for running in a bit Danny?" Jorel asks me, and I nod. I can't wait for physical training in a little while. "Time to burn all the calories you have eaten in the last two weeks," Rigo says. Also further deflate Brody's ego with the physical training. I seem to be doing well already with our plan and today has been the first day I have been allowed to do everything.

We're not being deliberately nasty to Brody; we just want to bring him down into the reality of life before it comes to hurt him. If he realises that he just needs to knuckle down and focus on training instead of flexing he'd do so much better. "Do not forget to hand all your letters in tonight, so we can send them home to your families," one of the captain's announces loudly. We had all handed ours in already, mine hidden as safely as it could get within Rigo's. All the drawings I had done are in there too. I hope that mother will be proud of me. I know that not everyone on the camp can read and write. So in a way I am thankful for my father had forced me to have the chance to do it. That is the only thing I am thankful that my father did it for me.

It is now time to stack our trays and go to physical training. Until today, this would be the time I would go to the billet and relax for a while whilst the guys do their second hour on physical training. It will feel nice to finally join in for once. I am going to have a lot of fun with the guys, physical training will be a lot of fun when you do it right. Most people see it as an hour of running around with occasional exercise change. However it is important to exercise and stay fit and healthy while you are in the military to be the best you can be. I know I keep giving my friends advice that I have not been strictly following, but it is not really my fault with everything that has happened in the last two/three weeks.

"Private Murillo, glad to see you are cleared to join us. Do not forget that you can rest if you need to and it's not going to affect how I am assessing you," Major Williams tells me. Obviously the nurse has informed them of the results of the evaluation. "I will rest if I need to sir," I tell him. I am getting into the good books already. I do think it is slightly weird that I seem to be being assessed differently, but I guess it has something to do with Rigo telling them about my fitness level as it was before I was injured. He is very well trusted and respected. I have to show that I can listen to directions and orders. We start off with some basic warmups, so we don't overdo it when we go running laps in a little while. It feels so good to be back into this. Jordon was watching Brody while we stretch. It seems like Brody is only good at physical training as I have been informed that he has failed all the other tests.

Major Williams told us that when we pass all of our tests we will get promoted to either private 2 or private first-class ranks. It all depends on how well we do on our tests. It might seem strange, however they want to promote people as quickly as possible through the first few ranks, so they don't have too many privates at once. Due to the threat of war so many people are signing up which means they have to speed through those initial promotions. Any promotions that come after those first two are up to the officers as they see fit. You have to work hard to earn those higher ranks. Rigo and George worked very hard to get their ranks. Kyle has also worked hard to get his current rank. I am going to work hard to get a high rank.

I showed Brody up again. I was much better at physical training and I out did him in the amount of laps we were doing. "Are you okay Private Murillo?" Major Williams asks me, when we were about halfway through the lesson. "Yes, I am okay sir," I tell him. He taps my arm as a friendly gesture. I am feeling fine, I don't feel like I am over doing it right now. I could feel a whole lot worse in the morning though. "That is good, keep up the good work," Major Williams tells me. Brody looks so jealous of me right now. He is not on the best of terms with the officers we have to call sir or ma'am. I am definitely starting to see how I am different to the rest of the new recruits and even Jorel. I have a lot of knowledge that they don't have and that is all due to my upbringing.

I think physical training is going to be one of those topics which is tested constantly as I see Major Williams looking at people running then writing things down on a clipboard. I guess we will see on Sunday, it is Tuesday now. Updates are usually given on Sundays to mark the end of one week and the beginning of a new week. It is also when people move up to the next stage of training and when promotions are handed out. Jordon loves having me here and helping them out as much as I have been able to. I have been giving him motivation to keep running and to not give up on his training. I can understand how this can be difficult for those who are not used to it. It can get tempting to quit every now and then on the rougher days at camp.

If you looked at the six of us on the first day of camp I don't think you would have pictured us getting along as well as we have done. I think the mixtures of personalities work really well. We are all happily getting along together without much if any arguments despite the fact that we are in a stressful environment. I also thought a lot more fights would have broken out because of the random throwing together of people. I guess that might happen when we get put into squads because then friendship groups will have been more cemented. The army are not going to necessarily take friendship groups into consideration when they are forming the squads. From what Rigo told me they just go for squads with even strengths. You need multiple skills within the squad in order to make it a successful one.

If you're sent out to the battlefield or on an exercise then you're going to need a range of skills within your squad. You could have someone who was very stealthy to sneak and get an idea of what's to come, you would need a decent leader that everyone was going to listen to without a huge argument and the squad needs to have the best level of communication possible so that the squad can run as smoothly as possible. You could go far if you were behind a successful squad. The promotions you could get as well as recognition is not to be ignored. You could get the best missions in the army if you were willing to prove that you are worth those more dangerous missions. That's what Kyle has been telling me anyways.

I was definitely ready for bed by the time we got back to the billet. "You wore Danny out," Rigo jokes when we walk back into the billet. He wasn't there when we were doing physical training because he had a meeting with the other officers. I flop onto my bed; I feel too tired to even wash myself properly right now. "Yeah I think he did like twenty laps or something," Jorel says. I wasn't keeping count while I was running to be honest. I didn't think it was that much though. "Yeah, that is a new record for him and doing it so soon after being badly injured and dealing with a nasty infection," Rigo says. I don't even remember what my record was before tonight's twenty lap. I sleepily look at Jorel who was sitting on the other bed.

Jorel spends most of the night with me as part of our night-time routine. If he wakes up to go pee in the night then he goes back to his own bed. Otherwise we spend all night together. It helps me to have some company at night. I tend to get nightmares when I am alone. I yawn and I feel Jorel's weight lower one part of the bed. "Yeah, I am proud of him. He outdid Brody by quite a bit," Jorel tells him. I roll onto my side and Jorel rubs my back. I am so tired, which I am considering to be a good thing. I need to feel tired at night, so I can get some much-needed sleep at night. "Maybe I should let Danny get some sleep. I am proud of him too, he has worked very hard," Rigo says. I heard the others walking around and leaving the billet to clean up for bed then come back.

I know Rigo is proud of me. "I will wash myself first sleep later," I mumble, and Jay laughs from where he is sitting. I sorta have my face in his thigh from how I was laying when he was sitting down on my bed. I roll back over and let Rigo gently pull me to my feet. Jorel follows me outside to the "bathroom", so we can get ready for bed. "I will stay with you tonight again Danny. I am so sorry that I left you and you had a nightmare," Jorel tells me. I guess Rigo told him what happened very early this morning. Jorel also probably saw me cuddled up to Rigo this morning. "It's okay Jay. It is not your fault, a grown man like me should sleep on his own without nightmares. I like snuggling with you. I feel safe with you," I tell him, and he hugs me tightly. I am so glad to have him in my life.

"I am glad you feel safe with me Danny. Not many grown men have their fathers abuse them. Not many men will also join the army so soon after their last beating. Nightmares will happen, but I will cuddle you whenever I know about them and whenever you want them," Jorel tells me. We walk back into the billet and get into my bed. I snuggle up with him and he wraps his arms around me. I bet people will start assuming that we are in a relationship even though we are practically brothers. "Thank you Jay," I tell him, and he smiles. I love being close to him. I yawn and he rubs my back again. "You're always welcome Danny," he tells me. I get up again briefly to take my boots off. Rigo takes them to add a layer of boot polish to them because he decided it was his turn to do it.

The others have followed our advice to leave a layer of boot polish on our boots and leave them overnight and then take it off just before morning parade. We have been given the award for the smartest dressed billet and they have complimented our skills. Jorel's boots are already on the floor and had a layer of polish on them. I think Jordon did it for him because he said he wanted to get more practice. Jorel wraps his arms around me again. I close my eyes and hope that I can fall asleep quickly.

_**And that is the end of another chapter. I hope you have enjoyed this book so far. Let me know.**_

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	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_**And this is the last prewritten one. I don't know if all of these are going to be ten pages long from here on out, let me know what you think.**_

_**Also quick reminder – Not all of the characters in here will represent how they are in real life. I have the greatest amount of respect for the families of all the guys and this is purely fictional.**_

_**13**__**th**__** February 1917 – Margo Murillo's point of view –**_

It has now been a month since my youngest child went off to join his older brothers in the army. I miss him terribly, but at the same time I feel as if this is for the best. His father would probably have killed him by now with whatever reason comes into his head. I would hate to have to write that letter to his brothers to let them know that their brother had died. My husband thinks that he has killed Danny already. He has not seen his son since the attack a month ago. Today, I hope that Danny is happy and doing well in the army camp. Rigo does his best to keep me updated, but they are very busy. Training can get quite hectic at the best of times so I can understand why he cannot always find the time to call home.

I should be receiving letters from two of the boys soon. Since Kyle is on the frontlines I am not expecting a letter from him for a while. They are stricter on who can send letters there in case the enemy gets hold of it. "Mother, what do you think Rigo is getting up to on camp?" Lisa asks me. She would have asked me about Danny too, but my husband and their father is currently home. "He's probably shouting at all the new recruits who misbehave," I tell her. He is one of the top fieldcraft and weapon instructors. He is very good at what he does, and I am very proud of him. My husband should be going to work soon. Then I can mention my youngest son to my heart's content. I hate it being this way. I hate everything about the situation.

I hate having to keep my own son a secret. "How is Danny doing?" Lisa asks me, when my husband leaves. I do not have to say about Danny. Rigo has not said much about him when it comes to our brief conversations. "I think he is doing okay. I have not heard anything from him since we reluctantly let him leave," I tell her honestly. We will know more if we get a letter from him when Rigo sends his. "I miss Danny, but it is for the best that he is away from home," she tells me, and I whole heartedly agree with her. I get up to go and get the mail out of the box. The mail man should have come and gone by now. There were letters and parcels. Plenty of each to get through. I quickly sort through whose mail pile is whose when I saw the envelope I was hoping for. The boys in camp have written home and they are fine.

I am hoping Danny's letter is hidden in there somewhere. Rigo has such amazing handwriting and I am so proud of him for it. I was the one who taught him how to write. I open the parcels and envelops, saving the letter from Rigo till last. Lisa sits next to me but does not read over my shoulder as I open the envelope. Straight away I am greeted by two drawings. One of Danny and one of Rigo. I knew Danny had drawn them both because I can see his little signature on the bottom of each one. They look so good in their uniforms and I could tell that the happiness that was drawn was genuine. I knew Danny would be happy in the army. "Danny looks so cute in his army uniform. Rigo looks good too," Lisa tells me, and I smile at her. She is right, my boys look so good right now.

I want to know how bad Danny's injuries have been since he left. He tends to not talk to anyone about his injuries when he is hurt. It was one of the scariest days of my life when his boss Jake brought him back to the house and he passed out in the living room. I thought he was going to die, and I swore a lot when I was patching him up to the best of my abilities. He stayed unconscious until late the next evening and the train was the next morning. He didn't respond to anything around him, so we believed that was it and he was going to be comatose until he passed away. I sat there all day with the cloth in an attempt to bring down his fever. It worked and he recovered to the point where I wanted to let him go to the army.

_30__th__ January 1917_

_Dear Mother and Sister,_

_I hope you are doing well. It has been an interesting month to say the least. So many new recruits are coming in by the trainload almost every week. I only knew Daniel was coming to the camp when he was already on the train and we had been given the list of new recruits. He has been doing so well, I was told today that he is going to be promoted to private first class. He is going to be the first in his group of new recruits to be promoted this high passing basics. The rest of the groups are being private 2. He hopes that he is doing you proud. He is the happiest that I have ever seen him. I wish that you could see him, I really do. I wish that he did not have to sign up to the army to get that happiness though. At least I can keep an eye on him daily._

_I make my promise to you now that I will look after Danny while he is here. I will make sure that no one bullies him and that he makes it home at the end of the war. As I write this to you, he is sleeping next to me. he looks so peaceful while he sleeps. He looks like nothing is bothering him which is good. I love it when he is calm and peaceful. He has been badly effected by what happened at the café I can tell. He does have nightmares from time to time. I am always there to comfort him. When I was about to start writing this he had a nightmare and I calmed him down. I hate it when whatever __HE__ does to my brother especially when I am not there to take the hits for him like I should have done as a good big brother. _

_It has been hard training some of the new recruits. A lot of them have lied about any medical conditions they have, so we have had to send a lot of them home. There are also a lot of people who act quite arrogantly and like they are very entitled who need knocking down a peg or two, but we always get at least one of these types of people every time we get new recruits. Danny is good at helping some of the new recruits and give them the confidence boost they need to get over the initial nerves. I have enclosed his letter in this for you to read. He hopes you will keep these both safe away from father. He is more worried about what would happen to you than him if our father was to find out. He doesn't want you to be hurt._

_I hope that we will be able to bring our father to justice for what he has done. I want my baby brothers to have a safe home to get back to when the war is over. I do not care that much about myself. Danny and kyle are younger than me and they deserve the best life possible. Even you deserve happiness and time away from father. I hope that you haven't been hurt since Danny has been gone. It has been weird to see him without any injuries now, but I am liking seeing his skin clear and free from cuts and bruises. He is such a cuddly gut now and it is incredible. He stays by Jorel's side all day and most of the night. They are definitely joined at the hip while they are here, I think they will go far in life for sure. They will be a great team._

_It might be a weird thing to admit but I think that if Danny and Jorel weren't raised together then I am sure they would be boyfriends by now. That would not be a bad thing in my eyes. I am sure people already consider them to be secret lovers because of how close they are to each other. I know I have been asked by some officers already. I just told them that they are adoptive brothers so Jorel is technically my adoptive brother too and it has worked well thus far. Nobody really challenges what I say anyways. I have been getting a lot more respect here than I have been expecting. I know father is a jerk, I have been told that many times. They were so surprised by how different the three of us are to our father._

_I have some good news to share with you. I might get promoted to Command Sergeant Major in a few weeks. They are impressed by how I have turned some recruits from the worst to the best. George is the same and he is getting promoted to warrant officer and probably the same time I get promoted. It is good to have all of us back together again. We have the best friendship, especially Danny and Jorel. they are going to be old men together. Just like George and I see each other being in an old man home with each other talking about this war to future generations to come long after the war is over. It strangely sounds fun to sit on a wooden rocking chair with a blanket over my shoulders talking about the war._

_I keep thinking of more things to write, more things to tell you about. Then I look at Danny and get distracted by how adorable he is. One of the majors told me that he has never seen brothers in the army get along as well as we do in his entire career. Then again most brothers join at the same time and they do not have the same age gap that Danny and I have. There are so many overly competitive people here which makes our relationship a breath of fresh air for a lot of instructors. They even say that Jorel and Danny could be brothers before I say that they are "adoptive" brothers. We have said that they could have been brothers when they were little children. It is funny how things come back in unexpected ways. _

_I am so glad that I have not been sent to the frontlines just yet. I am glad that I am able to support Danny through his training at the least first couple of levels he has to go through. I think that having that familiar face teaching you has really helped him get settled in easier. I will leave the rest of the stories that he has for his first month to his own letter. They are not really my stories to tell. His letter might be longer than mine since he will have more to tell you and to update you on than I have. When you are so new to army life you have so much more to write about than someone who has already been here for a year like I have been. I love seeing the expressions on the newbies faces as they write home._

_I hope that you two stay safe while we are away. Who knows how much longer this war will drag on for? I know how unpredictable father can be and I do not think that Danny, Kyle or I would be happy if he hurts you two. I am also hoping that the drawings stay in in envelope, so they get to you. We are starting to get as censored as those who are out on the frontline. The ones at the top worry if we give details to you that will be intercepted by the enemy. Danny worked really hard on his drawings. The one of him was based on my description of him and I think it turned out really well and looks very realistic. Maybe I should encourage him to be a highly paid artist when the war is over. Paintings make a lot of money and he would be very happy doing it._

_I hope I can come back home as soon as this war is over. I cannot wait to hug you two again. It has been very lonely here. Sure I have George and I have done since one month in, but it is not the same as being at home with family. Even with Danny here I still feel a little lonely. He is going off making his own friends and having fun like he should. It should be fun for me too, but I am just not feeling it at the moment. I shouldn't be ending my letter home on such a sad note though. It should be happy because things are looking up for us and Danny is safe with me. I will write to you again next month and be in a happier mood by then._

_With all the love in my heart_

_Sergeant Major Rigo Murillo_

I look at Lisa when I finish reading Rigo's letter. It is nice to get an update from my eldest son no matter how long or shot the letters might be. I found the letter from Danny and I will read that out loud later. I feel happy knowing that my eldest is going to take amazing care of my youngest. I am a little sad that he started feeling sad towards the end, but he will feel happier when everything settles down. "Rigo is catching up to father now," Lisa says, I gave her the letter to read. She is right, I think that Rigo will be either the same rank if not a higher rank than his father by the end of the war. "Indeed he is. I see him being a higher rank than his father one day," I tell her. I am happy to hear that Danny is settling in well. All I want is for my children to be as happy and a healthy as they can possibly be. That would make me so happy.

"I think Danny will go far too. He is so smart, and he can do anything he sets his mind to," Lisa says. My youngest is incredibly intelligent, something which his father strongly denies. I have told his father repeatedly much to his annoyance that it will come back to haunt him. Danny will out smart him one day. I am now finally in the process of getting a divorce from their father. A lot of years too late, but it has been hard. I really don't want to be with the man who has hurt my sons. He does not feel any remorse for anything he has done to them. He does believe that the grave in the back yard is Danny's, yet he has not shed a single tear over our youngest. I was not expecting him to mourn over our son, but it still hurts to know that he does not care about his children in that way.

"He will go far. He has already proven to the army that he is smart. He will get promoted quite quickly," I tell her. I look at Danny's drawing again. I never got to see him in person in his army uniform before he and Jorel dashed off to get the train. He looks so grown up in his army uniform. I remember when he wore his father's uniform back when he was only five years old. It was so massive on him obviously, but he looked at me with the pure innocence and said that one day he was going to go into the army, so that his father would be proud of him. My heart broke then because I knew that the man they looked up to would never be proud of them. Danny knows that now, but it is never easy to know that your father will never love you no matter what you do.

"He looks so happy in his drawing. I hope that he will be that happy when he comes home," Lisa tells me. I hope that the boys do come home at the end of the war. I know that there is a high chance of all three of them dying on the battlefield and not come home. "I think he will be. I am going to be leaving your father before the war is over," I tell her. I know I can trust her to keep it a secret from her father until the divorce papers are officially served. That will make everyone so much happier knowing that they will never see their father ever again. I don't even want to see that "man" ever again. He doesn't mean anything to me now and will never mean anything to me. He will end up in jail before the end of the war anyway.

He is not a very intelligent man; he just has a big ego. He thinks that he is going to get away with everything that he has done over the last 30+ years. He thinks that his army status will somehow grant him immunity from the justice that should be carried out on him. If you told anyone what has gone on in our household since the day that Rigo had turned one then you would be disgusted and would hate him, and demand justice be carried out. There would be public outcry if they knew what went on behind closed doors. However, we can't speak out because our lives are at risk. I have been saving money from whatever jobs I can and through any means I can so I can flee as soon as the divorce happens.

He doesn't know about the jobs that Lisa and I have secured. I know he would let her be a nurse in the army, but he would take all of her pay like he has done to the boys. I wouldn't want Danny to send his army money to me either so we have been working with a very good manager who lets us have shifts whenever we can make it there and we are always back before my husband gets home so he is none the wiser to our little pool of money we have hidden in a locked box underneath Lisa's floorboard in her bedroom. It's hidden under a rug too which is a little bit of added protection. I want to financially support myself and my children.

He took what means most to me, he drove three of my children to leave home and potentially never come back. All of my children mean the world to me and now I am facing losing three of them to a war in which the whole word is fighting. My middle son Kyle is already out there on the frontlines, fighting hard for his country. Soon Rigo and probably Danny will be joining him, and they too will be fighting for their country. "It is a shame that he spoke about Jorel, but there is no picture of him in the envelope," Lisa says. If there was a way that I could afford to legally adopt Jorel into the family I would have done so by now. Danny and Jorel do act like twins most of the time. I have also practically raised Jorel since he was a toddler. I love the boys.

"Yeah. Maybe next time Danny and Rigo will send a drawing which includes Jorel. We could always request a drawing of the trouble twins," I tell her. Lisa chuckles because I called them the trouble twins again. It has been a long time since they were called that. They have not been in trouble for a while. I think the last time was when Jorel got fired from his job. "Yeah and Rigo will keep an eye on the trouble twins while they are in camp," Lisa tells me. It will be interesting to be kept updated about what Jorel and Danny get up to. They could get up to all sorts. I like the idea of them being joined at the hip throughout this horrible war. Friendships like theirs is very hard to find these days so they should treasure it.

Rigo said that Danny was asleep when he wrote his letter. I am glad that Danny has his big brother Rigo there to comfort him through his nightmares. Danny had the worst nightmares when he was at home. Ever since he was three I would comfort him as he woke up screaming in terror. I wonder how much worse they could be now he is not at home. There is the threat of his father coming for him when he finds out that Danny is still alive. It will be impossible to keep Danny hidden forever. His father will find out either before the war ends or shortly after. I do not know if I can hide Danny's letters well enough. He has his way of finding anything I have tried to hide from him in the past including Rigo said that Danny was asleep when he wrote his letter. I am glad that Danny has his big brother Rigo there to comfort him through his nightmares. Danny had the worst nightmares when he was at home. Ever since he was three I would comfort him as he woke up screaming in terror. I wonder how much worse they could be now he is not at home. There is the threat of his father coming for him when he finds out that Danny is still alive. It will be impossible to keep Danny hidden forever. His father will find out either before the war ends or shortly after. I do not know if I can hide Danny's letters well enough. He has his way of finding anything I have tried to hide from him in the past including any jewellery I have tried to hide to sell.

"Wow Danny has a lot he wants to tell us about," Lisa says. Heh as four pages in his little envelope inside the main one. I am interested to see what he has to say about how he is finding army life so far. He was pretty excited to leave to go to the training camp with Jorel and to see Rigo again. "He does, I wonder what he has to say," I tell her. I hope he is okay. I know he was quite badly hurt before he left for training. I wonder how he is doing now that his father can't hurt him, at least not for a while anyways. "Let's find out. He looks quite happy with the change of scene based on his drawing," Lisa tells me. I smile at my daughter. I love how happy he looks. I wish I could be there with him. I wish I could hug him and tell him everything was going to be fine like I know it is going to be once the war is over.

I want to see my son happy and not covered in bruises like I am so used to seeing. That is why I treasure the boys baby years so much. By the time Kyle was born I learned to take as many baby pictures of him in his first year of life as possible. I think I had 365 photos of Kyle, Lisa and Danny when they were babies. I felt bad taking pictures of Lisa growing up because I couldn't do the same with the boys and they would see it as Lisa being the favourite when I do not have any favourites. Whenever they were bruise free I would be taking pictures of them. Which wasn't very often, and it made me sad when they went off to join the army that I didn't have any of them just before they left because the beatings were more frequent then.

_30__th__ of January 1917_

_Dearest mother and sister,_

_By the time you get this, I will have been in training for a month now. It has been an interesting month to say the least. The injuries that father gave me before I left for camp came back to stop me pretty quickly. The three gashes in my back got infected, so they kept me from doing any physical training until today. It has been rough, but I think that it has started to turn around for the better now. I am completely healed from the parting beating that I was given. I am so glad that I cannot be hurt by __HIM__ anymore. I am going to enjoy this time where I can feel safe and have some peace. I hope he does not hurt either of you while I am gone. That would make me feel so incredibly guilty. I would hate anything bad happening to you because of me._

_Jorel and I are enjoying ourselves surprisingly. We have not gotten into any trouble yet. I do not think Rigo would let us. George would not let us get into any trouble either I bet. Is it weird that I can see those two dating in the future? They could be lovers; they act like it a bit already from what I have seen. Then again, they probably would say the same thing about Jorel and I. I know George thinks that we should date. I do not see Jorel being my boyfriend though, he is more like a brother to me. the new friends we have do not see us being boyfriends either. They see us like we are brothers. I find it a little strange to get used to having five close friends after so many years of only having one close friend. It is good, don't get me wrong it is just weird to adjust to._

_I hope you are proud of me. I have managed to pass all of the tests I have been allowed to do so far. Today Rigo is going to be doing our fieldcraft test. He said that I was not going to have an easy time just because I am his brother. He is not going to give me the pass straight away, I have to work for it like everyone else. I am really going to work hard to earn my pass. I am sure I can pass the test just fine. There are a lot of tips I have learned which will help me out. I am confident that I can pass all off the tests in basics. I have helped Jorel out with all of his testes and he has passed them all too thanks to me. He has really appreciated it. I don't think I am confident enough to help the new friends just yet._

_Jordon, Matt and Dylan are my new friends. Jorel worked with Dylan back when we were in Los Angeles. He saw father beating me up outside of the café. He said that should we ever take father to court for what he has done that we would be a witness. That is if we could ever get father arrested for what he has done. Dylan was horrified to learn just how bad and often father hurt me. Since he saw it happen I really could not deny it. That and Jake told Dylan that it was my father that had beaten me up. After that I could not hide or deny that something like that was going on in my life. You can't go up to someone who saw you being beaten up and say, "oh don't worry that never happened." They would call you out on your lies straight away._

_The rest of our new little friend group will know about this probably by the time this letter reaches you. I don't think I would feel comfortable with them not knowing just in case something bad happens to me or Rigo while we are all together. It was already worrying enough for them because of the state I have been in especially during the first few days. They deserve an explanation of why I have the injuries other than oh I got in some fight. I don't want father to turn on them though if he ever meets the rest of our friends. I often think of what happened to Jason when he met father and decided against Kyle's wishes to confront father for hurting us. I wonder how he is doing now, if he ever recovered from those injuries or not. _

_I have had a few nightmares, which I guessed would happen since I know I get nightmares anyway at home. Jorel and Rigo have been taking it in turns looking after and comforting me after the nightmares. Rigo comforted me last night after I had a nightmare. I am glad I get to be with him again. I hope that at the end of the war we can all be home together gain and happy. The nightmares are the same as usual really, just a bad version of the beatings that have happened to me. Sometimes I die sometimes I don't. I do not know why they keep happening, but I know they keep happening no matter what I do. If we win the war I might go and get some professional help. I can't go living my life with these nightmares._

_These nightmares are definitely getting a little out of hand. I am going to try and not let it affect my training. There was a moment where I had a fainting episode on the train, but I recovered quite quickly, and I have not fainted since which is good. I was not in a good shape when I left on the train and I realise that now. I probably should have waited until I felt better before leaving, but I thought that father might have killed me before the next train to camp. I hate living in the constant fear that I will be killed. This is not how I expected my life to go. I am going to show father how much he will regret ever hurting me or my brothers. If it boiled down to a fight to the death then I would certainly kill him._

_We will keep ourselves safe while we are away, so we can come home to you. I miss you a lot. This is the first time I have been away from home like this and I admit that I feel home sick. I don't feel it all of the time, but it is there every now and then. I guess it's expected when you leave home like this for the first time. I will get used to it eventually, it is just a new feeling I have never experienced before. Even Jorel said that he has felt home sick occasionally. At least I get to write to you, and you can write back. I do not have the permission to use the phone just yet though. One day I will probably get the permissions. I know you have to be very trust worthy in order for the permission to be granted to you._

_When we get through all of the tests we will get our first promotion. I think that we will be Private 2. The next promotion after that is private first class. Someone said they might be rushing through promotions because of the war. We will just have to wait and see. I will still work hard to gain my promotions like Kyle, Rigo and George did and still do. I am going to prove that I am worthy of getting those promotions. I feel like I should be working hard if not harder than everyone else. Father has left me with a lot of low self-confidence and a lot to prove to even attempt to make him proud. I know it is fruitless to try and get him to be proud of me, but it is what every child wants right? They want their mother and father to go oh I am so proud of you._

_I think making the choice to join the army was the right choice. It has been difficult I know, but in my mind I am thinking that I would rather be here than dead in a ditch or in the backyard somewhere without you knowing. At least now you know where I am and what I am getting up to. I am safer here than I am back at home which is not fair on you I know. I should be at home and relaxing, not worrying about the war that is going on around us. I wish you and sister could join me here mother. I know they are not letting women join the army unless it's in a nurse position, but I don't feel like it is fair on you. It is your country as well; you should be able to fight for your country too. Maybe one day they will let you._

_I bet father would hate it if women could join the army. It just seems like the type of thing he would hate. It seems like he hates anyone who could potentially be more powerful than him. He sees us as a threat I know that much for sure. He would hate that we would ever be either a higher rank than him or powerful enough to overpower him. I would love to fight him one day and win even though I am not really that into violence. I am also kinda worried about turning into him when I am older and have children of my own. I want to give my future children the bonding time and relationship with their father that I never got. They deserve the best and I will give it to them. I will make enough money to move away one day to the mountains somewhere maybe._

_I know deep down that trying to get any positive emotions out of __him__ is impossible. Although, having that that I got a little bit of happy father on the last day of the café. That was before he found out that the café was going to be closed until the end of the war. I will never get the image of his face dropping when the announcement was said out of my head. As soon as I saw his face I knew I was dead. It surprises me that I am still alive to tell my story one day. Maybe I should write a book about my life before the war happened. That could earn me some money one day. "__**The Son of a Captain: Behind Closed Doors"**_ by _**Daniel Rose Murillo.**____I should probably start writing it soon though. It would be safe here until I am ready to publish it._

_I might not be able to finish the book before he kills me. I know that he will find out about these letters before the war is over. It's not that I don't trust you, because I do with all my heart. We just know that it would be too good to be true if we could go the entire war, however long it may be without him finding out about it. I just hope that we can enjoy this while it lasts. I want to enjoy this freedom I have been getting, however long this may last. I fear it may not be for much longer somehow. I know you do not wish for me to speak ill of my fate, but I know this is going to happen. It is just a question of when. Father will never stop until he gets what he desires most, and I fear that might lead to my death and it might not stop there either. _

_I really hope that he does not hurt you while I am gone. I know that I have already stated this on this letter, but father is so unpredictable. You never know what might happen next. One minute he is happy and calm and the next he is in a rage. He gets very strange when he gets drunk and we are not there to take the blows for you. I would love it if I earned enough money to get you a lovely new house away from __him__ where __he__ will never find you. It would be the heaven that you deserve after all these years. I would even buy you a house wherever you wish to retire to when that time comes. I know how fondly you spoke of going to Hawaii once. Maybe I can buy you a house there right next to the beach so you can enjoy the beaches every single day._

_Sister, I hope that you take good care of mother. She needs you now more than ever. She will be terribly worried while we are gone that we might not come back home. I do not want her to be worried because I feel like Rigo and I might not even get chosen to fight on the frontlines. It will all depend on how they see fit when it comes to being assigned when that time comes. Rigo has been lucky this far and stayed behind. He is a great teacher so they might keep him behind. I am so glad that he is here and able to train me. I find that it has made adjusting to the army life smoother than I expected to. I find myself able to switch of easier in the evening and think less about the stress. I can spend more time with Rigo because we are in the same billet._

_I know that mother will complain about that last paragraph, but she should not feel ashamed to be selfish every now and again. It is good to spend some you time and take care of yourself. Maybe see if Aunt Crystal will give her a free spa day or something. That would do the world of good I think. It will be good to get away from the stress even if it is just for a few hours. You deserve better than that man you married. I know he was nice before we were born, but it should not matter that we are in your lives. We want you to have a nice husband who you can grow old with on the beach in Hawaii. Maybe I will draw it some time. _

_I have been placed on extra rations. I have been since the second day I was on the train. They are a little concerned about my weight. I am not underweight enough to be sent home though, but enough for them to put me on a higher calorie diet so that I can put weight on. It is working, I have gained a little weight while I have been on bed rest. Jorel says it was because of all of the milk biscuit pudding I have been eating. I am one of the few who like it in our group, so I have been given extras most days. Jorel likes it just as much as I do, so if I get full I give him my leftovers. He says he wants to join me in working in the café when the war is over. I think that would be a good idea for him to find somewhere new to work._

_It would be nice to have Jorel working with me as well. There is not a high chance of Jake firing Jorel for any reason. Jake has had worse employees in his time. I hope that the café will be able to open again once the war has ended. I enjoyed working there even if it would not be my first choice of employment. I know we were struggling a lot before I had left due to all the rationing that was going on and will probably continue once the war over. I know that they would probably continue rationing us after the war because it will take a while to get the economy back to where it should be. We all don't expect things to stay the same as they were pre-war straight after the war ends. There will be a lot of work needed to be done before things go back to normal here. I am not sure how long that will take, but I will be willing to help out whenever possible._

_I cannot wait to come back and feel proud of what I have been able to achieve with my time here. I hope that Rigo, Jorel, Jordon, Matt, George and I can achieve great things together while we are here too. We get along so well with each other so we could end up being a squad together. Well, if I could be with at least one of the guys I will be happy. I don't want to be alone with the rest of the new recruits. Not everyone is a fan of or likes the fact that I am the younger brother of one of the high ranking officer. They don't even know that we both have a high ranking officer for a father. Our father is a captain after all. At least Rigo and I don't fight like some siblings I have seen on camp which has helped us._

_I think we have broken up more sibling fights than participated in them. I love Rigo too much to fight with him. Well, I do at the moment anyways. He might become really annoying. Just kidding, I will still love him regardless. He is one of the best big brothers I have, and I don't want to lose him. I say the same things about Kyle. I wish that Kyle was not deployed on the frontlines already. It would have been nice to have a brotherly reunion of all three of us. Then we would drive the instructors crazy when they call Murillo out and all three of us respond. It already drives them mad with the two of us. They will ask for a Murillo and when the wrong one responds they are like no not you your older/younger brother._

_It feels amazing to be able to write home. I miss you so much , so I am glad that I have the chance to be able to write home even if it is risky. They might stop us from writing if the war gets any worse. You never know what the enemy would do if they found the information about the war from our side. I hope my drawings get to you in one piece. I worked hard on them and I have never sent them in the mail before. I will send more drawings next time I write to you. I promise to include my new friends as well as Jay and George next time. I know you were probably wondering why Jay was not included this time, but I wanted to draw us all individually first. I love you both so much and I cannot wait until the day we meet again._

_Sending all my love_

_Private Daniel Rose Murillo xx_

I look to Lisa with tears in my eyes. My poor baby boy, he has gone through so much. I had no idea he got infection on the cuts on his back so quickly. I thought I had cleaned them well enough. Just goes to show how much of a bastard my husband is to his kids. Lisa had tears in her eyes too, she worries about her baby brother a lot. It is good to know that Danny is feeling a lot better now. I just want to rush over there and cuddle him tightly. I should have looked closer for signs of infection. I should have treated my own son better. "It is not your fault momma, Danny is okay now," Lisa tells me. she is right though. My little baby boy is okay. Their father cannot really get to Danny while he is away training, Rigo will keep an eye on it.

It is also good to hear that my "adopted" son Jorel and Danny have managed to settle in and for once in Danny's life he is surrounded by genuine friends. I didn't know what happened on the train, but at least Jorel and George took good care of Danny. I know Rigo would not have told me because I would have worried until I got an update from Danny himself. He has been really well looked after at camp. I better start learning how to cook milk biscuit pudding by the sounds of it. Definitely before the boys come home so they can have something they'll enjoy. I am happy that Danny is happy. "I know Lisa, it's just mother guilt," I tell her. I always go through mother guilt with my four children when they get hurt for any reason. "You will be okay momma, Danny still loves yous," Lisa tells me, trying to cheer me up.

Danny still loves me, and I know that. I am counting down the days until I can hold him in my arms again. I know that the boys will not be the same when they come home. War changes everyone involved from the men fighting bravely on the frontlines to the people waiting at home for that dreaded letter that they are ether MIA (missing in action) or KIA (Killed in action). There is also a high risk that we could be bombed by enemy forces. I don't even know if all three of my sons are coming home. Especially Kyle who is already fighting on the frontlines. "What is mother guilt?" Lisa asks, I forget sometimes that she doesn't know. "It is when a mother feels guilty about something that happened to their child even though it is not the mother's fault," I explain. I often think about it when I am cleaning their injuries.

I am sure that she will understand when she has children of her own. I could have kept their father home that night so Danny would never have been hurt that time. He could have gotten on the train injury free before their father even found out about the café closing. Then again, I do not control my husband's movements. He probably would have gone to the café regardless. He likes keeping his tabs on Danny to make sure that nothing is said that could get him into trouble. He wants to have the ultimate control over everything. He has convinced himself that Danny will be the one who tells on him in the end. He has no idea it is going to be someone else, probably not in this family who spills the beans on his crimes.

That is one flaw my husband has; he does not think that he can be touched by the police. He also doesn't think that people around us have noticed what has been going on. A split lip is hard to ignore, so is a face bruise. Also beating your own child up in the alleyway behind the place he works in is very incredibly stupid. If Danny's new friend Dylan saw what happened and is willing to back him up on it then who else in this city knows about it? The possibilities are endless, and I don't want to overthink all of the possibilities. I am sure they wonder about Lisa's safety as well as the boys. She has barely been out of the house since she became an adult. My husband refuses to let her go out doing things a young woman should be doing.

She should be finding a lovely young man to marry and have children with. A man who would be a better role model than her own father has been. He does not want any one to find out what he has been doing to his children, yet he has not been the stealthiest of people about it. I want her to find love and to escape. My dream for all my children is to become very well mannered, independent people who have happy healthy beautiful families. I want them to forget about the horrors of their childhood and early adulthood. I wouldn't even mind for them to move states or even countries. I am also not against them dating the same sex if that makes them happy. All I want is for them to be happy.

"You know Danny will never blame you right? Father would probably have discovered the café is closed before Danny left for camp. News spreads fast around here. He is friends with a lot of people there," Lisa says. She is right though; he probably would have found out about it regardless of anything we would try to do to stop him. He would have either been told by someone or seen the signs they put on the window once they closed up for the night. I know Danny would never blame me for what his father has done. "I know darling," I tell her. I get up to get some paper so Lisa and I can write back to the boys. They will be mailed out tonight, so my husband won't find the replies to Danny. He won't even know about Danny's letter.

Rigo is very smart, he had put in another letter in there which was basically an exact copy of the one he wrote to us. The only difference was is that he has removed all mentions of Danny and Jorel being with him and instead asked about how Danny was doing. This would be the letter that we give to their father should he ask. "I will go and get milk when we are done so these can go out. They are at the same camp Rigo has been at for the last year aren't they?" Lisa asks me. I think they are; I know Rigo hasn't told us about any relocations. "Yeah I think so, check the envelope in case," I tell her. I am not sure when they will not be allowed to include any more. It could lead to the enemy knowing their location. "Oh Rigo left two envelopes with the address on," Lisa says.

I looked inside one to see a little note inside. It is from Danny. I smile and show Lisa. "I knew Danny would be behind it," I tell her. He knows how forgetful I can be sometimes. We don't have a lot of time left to write our letters before my husband comes home and we have to play pretend once again. The grieving mother and sister we have pretended to be for the last month. It does annoy him though, so I want to continue doing it now that I have found something that annoys him. it does mean I am more at risk of being hit once he finds out it was all a lie, but I will happily take that risk. Danny was right in his letter about it. It is going to be hard to keep it all from my husband. He doesn't know about the hiding places that we have, but that does not mean that we will be able to keep it hidden forever.

_Hey momma, I hope these get to you. I knew you would forget where we are, so I wrote the address out for you. _

_Love Danny 3 3_

My son is so sweet, the love hearts were very cute. I love how much Danny loves me. He is so considerate for other people's welfare. It is all that I have taught him throughout his early childhood onwards. He has turned out to be the adult that I want him to be. I am so proud of him right now. My handsome young man. I cannot believe how well my children have done so far in their adult lives. Lisa is going to be working in the hospital like we mentioned before. Injured soldiers will be taken to the hospital where Lisa will be working on saving their lives. Also like previously mentioned my three boys will be fighting on the frontlines, seeing the enemy face to face. They have never been lazy children, never.

"Is Rigo alright?" My husband asks later on. The letters have been sent off and Danny's letter has been safely hidden away where my husband will never find it. "He is fine. He doesn't know about Daniel's death yet," I say, lying to my husband since obviously my youngest child has not died. Rigo has not called since he said Danny had arrived safely. "He will know when our reply letter arrives," Lisa says, she has never seen her father go so pale. Serves him right, I hope he rots in hell when he dies.

_**And that is the end of another chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you think and see ya next time. **_

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	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_**Hey guys, hope you're enjoying this book so far. As this is the first chapter that I haven't pre-written it is going to be my usual 7-8 word document pages long instead of the 10-11 even 12 pages they have been so far.**_

_**Enjoy **_

_**20**__**th**__** February 1917 – Private First Class Daniel Murillo's p.o.v**_

"Danny wake up," Jorel says, sounding frightened. Why would Jay be scared? He is afraid of nothing, at least nothing that I know of. I open my eyes and look at him. I don't know what the time is, but I don't think we are late. "He's okay Jay. It's just taken him a while to wake up from the whole thing," Rigo says. I have no idea what they are talking about. Jay plays with my hair and smiles when he realises that I am looking at him. "What happened?" I ask my brother. Something about this seems familiar, I think this has happened before. I have some brain damage after all the years of beatings. "You stopped breathing for a moment," Rigo explains. That makes sense to me now. It does happen randomly and often when I am sleeping. I sit up and Jorel hugs me tightly. I hug him back and he smiles.

"I forgot how scary that was. Sorry Danny," Jay tells me. To be fair on Jorel, it has been a while since the last episode, and I would never blame him for the way he feels. The others look shocked and relieved. I know it is the first time that Matt, Jordon and Dylan have seen this. "It's okay Jorel, even I have forgotten to that it happens to me, it has been a while. I would never blame you for the way you feel," I tell him. I am going to have to explain some more to our new friends about my health. Rigo pulls me onto his lap protectively. "Danny has some brain damage from the beatings. It is the main reason he stops breathing sometimes, but it doesn't really affect him otherwise," Rigo explains. They know about father hurting me and they hate him as much as Jorel, George, Rigo and I do.

"Oh god, at least we can deal with it next time if you are not there," Jordon says. We have been here for a month now and I trust my new friends with my life. I hate how my father is still affecting my daily life and the bastard isn't even here physically. "Yeah, you guys know enough first aid to help," George says. It is nearly breakfast time. Rigo does not want to let me go. "I hate you father. I would seriously hurt him if I saw him," Jordon says, and I know for a fact the others would be in full agreement with him. I know of a few other people who would be willing and ready to hurt my father at a moments notice. "It feels good to be bale to talk about it freely," I say, and I am sure Rigo would agree. It's definitely a weight off my chest.

"Danny is right, it feels so good to get the abuse off our chest. It is nice to have someone who will listen and let us share our experience," Rigo says, resting his chin on my head. It wasn't weird to us, we do it all the time. We are definitely close brothers despite all attempts father made to turn us against each other. "We will always be here to listen to you. You don't have to worry or hide how you truly feel anymore," Dylan says. I am so glad I have met all these people. I feel like mine and Rigo's mental wellbeing will be a lot better from now on. I hear the sound of boots on the frosty winter ground, that means it is breakfast time. "Yum breakfast," Jordon says, trying to pull on his boots as quickly as possible.

He still had the layer of polish on the boot, we usually take that off after we have eaten breakfast so that they are the freshest and shiniest they can be before morning parade. It has helped gain us a very good reputation with some of the adults who are in charge. We're often the best presentable recruits on parade. We keep ourselves clean and well shaven and our uniform is as spotless as it can get. I know that our uniform is never going to be as perfect as the day it was issued to us, but if we can get even a little bit close to that standard then we are good to go. I don't see why they bother so much if it just gets muddy, bloody, torn and destroyed on the battlefield anyways which is where 90% of us will end up going.

"Are you sure that you didn't sign up just for the food?" I ask Jordon. He is the only one that has not complained once about the food out of everyone who joined a month ago. I don't complain because it is a meal at the end of the day. "No, the food Is just a bonus for me," he replies. He is one of the ones who doesn't really have a lot of money left after the main bills have been paid for luxuries. Some of the food we have had in the army would have felt like a luxury 5 star meal to some of the men here. Jorel insists that he has to put my boots on me for me. I do not mind him doing this today. It will give him some of the peace he needs. Today we are being put in our squads officially and those squads are the ones we will stay in for the rest of our time here and beyond.

Jorel is worried about this because he thinks we aren't going to be in the same squad. I don't know if we will be, but it is no big deal if we aren't. We will still live in the same billet that we have been in since the beginning and we can still spend time together. They want squads to have a good mix of skills and ability levels so I might not even be with anyone in our friendship group. "Don't worry Jay," I whisper. Today seems like it is going to be a day of worrying for Jorel and I am not really keen on that. "I am more worried about you to be honest Danny," Jay tells me. it is something that was in the back of my mind. "It is not like they will move us out of our billet or anything Jay," I tell him, trying to make him feel better.

The current living arrangements have been working out fine and I don't see them really wanting to mess with that currently. "I know, I just do not want you to be lonely is all," he tells me. a completely justified concern, especially since I have been a little afraid of being alone at the moment. "Don't worry, I have managed to make sure one of you will be with Danny. I could not pick who though," Rigo says, making Jorel feel more at ease. I have faith that everything will work out fine in the end. I know there is not a lot Rigo can do in terms of assisting me as a brother would. The officers would not give me an easy pass on many things. They have to at least show on the outside that they are fair to all the recruits.

One thing they have allowed though is for us to have notebooks to use as we see fit. I have used it to start writing the book about all the abuse Rigo, Kyle and I have been through. This way there is a written record of all the abuse I have suffered. I am worried that I would be killed before I can tell my story. I would love for my mother to get my book when I die. I hate the fact that it is a not a question of if I die by my father's hand. I am not afraid of dying at all, at least not anymore I am not. Either I will be killed in the army or killed when I come home to my family since we know father hates me. After we eat breakfast we get ready to go onto parade because that usually follows straight after breakfast.

We make sure our boots are nice and shiny. Like I have mentioned before we are known for being the best presented billet and we intend to keep that trend up for as long as we can do. This is also going to be the last time that we form up for the morning briefing in our billet squads. From tomorrow morning onwards we will be forming in our squads that we will continue training in. We've all been promoted to Private 2 or Private First Class. Surprisingly, none of my friends were mad that I was the only one so far in the group to make it to PFC rank. I know they will get there soon enough. They are also working really hard and that is paying off for them. They will be promoted quite quickly once the Drill Sergeant see how hard they work.

The morning starts off with the usual drills. We have our uniforms inspected like usual. They have a new man in charge of the morning parade today. I could tell when they asked me if I felt okay because I looked pale. My skin tone is naturally very pale in the winter time. I tell him that I am fine, and it was natural for my skin tone to be this pale in the winter. He accepts it and moves on to Matt who is standing next to me. Even though we have been here for a month, some of them are still not comfortable with how close these Drill Sergeants get to their face. Matt is one of them and I can't reassure him yet because I might get into trouble. He did well though, he passed inspection just as I had done.

Now it is the time we have been slightly dreading. The time where we will be divided up into the squads which we will be spending the rest of our training days with. Jordon leaves our group first and Matt gets put with him minutes later. Jorel gets put into another squad which leaves just Dylan and I to be put into squads. I feel like I am going to be on my own. Dylan is going to be put into a squad with Jorel I know it. Then I am put into a squad with Brody and the look on the other man's face was priceless. After what seemed like forever Dylan was sent to join the same squad as me. Then within our squads we are paired up with our Battle buddies and I kept in the relief when mine was Dylan. I feel sorry for Jorel being on his own, but I know that he can make friends easily.

Now it is time for our morning hour of Physical Training. Today we are going to pe practising like usual but learning how to run in squads and make sure that none of your team mates fall behind. I was grateful that PT was the only thing Brody seems to be good at currently. It is going to be a long day that much I could say for definite. We will be having lessons in an hour's time and that is where I feel Brody is going to struggle more. He is not the sharpest tool in the box. I already knew that before I had out run him when I could do PT for the first time. Rigo does share a lot which he probably shouldn't with me, but I keep it secret. That is how I know so much about Brody without actually talking to the man.

The lessons go painstakingly slow but eventually lunch time came around. We are allowed to sit at the same tables with the same people as we had been doing up until now, which for Dylan and I is a god send. Jorel was happy to be back with us as well, as he hugged me tightly when we got to the table. "Bad morning all round then?" George asks us. Dylan and I shrug, it hasn't been that bad for us really. "Not really George, just dealing with some stupid people," Dylan says, and I nod. Jordon and Matt had a better time, they got on well with their squad members. Jorel was more inclined to agree with us and wished he could be moved to join me and Dylan or to join Jordon and Matt. George said to wait a while first because everyone is adjusting, and they might be getting through some things which would smooth themselves out.

I know not everyone is going to get along in their squads straight away. This is basically a huge shake up for everyone and not everyone has the opportunity to be placed in the same squad as their best friend. They will be quite rightfully feel pissed off and angry about it, but there is nothing that anyone can do about it because they are most likely keeping these squads the way they are that nothing is not really going to change. We have to learn to get along with people who we wouldn't ordinarily get along with. That is just part of the army life. We lose our individuality when we join the army and we have to accept that. "I know, I think I have found someone who is even more of an idiot than Brody is," Jorel tells us.

"Damn, I didn't even think that was possible," Dylan says, and I crack up laughing. I hope to God Brody wasn't paying attention. Not that I wouldn't mind fighting him even though I would definitely end up in trouble. I calmed down, and Jorel just shook his head at me. I did make him laugh a little bit, so I was not the crazy man laughing. We weren't the only table laughing either, which was good, and we didn't look like complete lunatics. We have roughly five hours of lessons now before dinner. That means five more hours getting used to our new squads. Five hours of hell in my opinion. I kinda wished we were back in the early days where the five of us would be in the same group as each other and not have to worry about being separated.

Brody was certainly not happy when the Drill Sergeant chose Dylan and I as the example Battle buddies for the day's lesson. We were chosen because we both showed the most team work out of our squadron and the Drill Sergeant wants to make an example of the standard he wants out of us. Each Drill Sergeant has a goal that the squadron they are in charge of is crown the best in the whole camp. It is not going to happen if Brody decides that a toddler tantrum is appropriate every time something doesn't go the way he wants it to. it doesn't just make him look bad; it makes the entire squadron look bad which is something that the Drill Sergeant is keen on stamping out as quickly as possible. We all have to act and be mature here.

We are having a revision session on first aid before we move onto the next section of the training which would get us through our next phase. Dylan and I were good at everything. A lot of first aid things were common sense. For example, when you find someone unconscious you put them into the recovery position so that they don't choke should they throw up or something like that. It was shocking to the Drill Sergeant that Brody had even passed the tests as he struggled to place his Battle buddy into the recovery position. The Drill Sergeant had come up to us in private while we were practising CPR on dummies and asked us about Brody. We were honest and let him know that we did not know much, and he was probably better off asking my brother or George.

"I keep forgetting that you're the younger brother of Sergeant Major Murillo. If I am being honest with you, you both look like twins," he tells me. I decide to take that as a compliment. I am sure if they put Kyle, Rigo and I together in the same room they would consider us to be triplets. "It's not the first time someone has said that about us," I tell him. Then we stop the chit chat so we can get on with the rest of the lesson and then move along to the next one. Today is the first day that we are on a new timetable, we don't have a second PT session anymore which to some would be a relief. I am sure as we are put into more specialised training squads some will be given that second session back. That would be for those who would be more suited to frontline fighters and not behind the scenes intelligence gathering or roles like that.

I could see Brody being sent back and working in an armaments factory making the guns or the bullets. I know that that is the option they have if they feel like the recruit is not doing well and would do better in the factories then that is where they would be sent. Each lesson seems like torture as we keep being asked by new teachers how the hell Brody has made it this far. Even Dylan and I am starting to question how the fuck Brody has made it this far. Thank god none of these guns are actually loaded and we are not dealing with live rounds yet. I am kinda scared that he is going to shot one of us if he gets the chance and it won't be with malicious intent. This kid is dangerous, he keeps aiming at the guy who is trying to teach him.

I was supressing memories from my childhood again with this lesson. I have been basically through this before from the age of 5. I didn't use the rifles that we are using now, mainly because those did not exist back then. We used one of my father's shotguns to practice the proper positions and how to aim and even shot at paper targets. If he was in a particular mood then it would be a chicken or a rabbit that we would shoot. As a kid I hated it, I didn't understand why that had to happen. "Are you okay there Danny?" Dylan asks, whispering to me because we shouldn't call each other by our first names while we do this. "Yeah, I'll explain at dinner though," I tell him. I know it didn't make sense, but it made sense to Dylan at least.

"Fair enough Dan," Dylan whispers. Then as the Drill Sergeant comes closer he asks me a little louder about how he is positioned and if he should change it or not. "Looks good to me Alvarez. Just make sure that you're comfortable while you do this because you could be here for a while," I tell him. The Drill Sergeant seems to approve of what I had said. "Murillo is right. You have the perfect position there," the sergeant says, and we both smile. This is a good lesson for us, it is also relatively easy for us as well. It seems like the little bits of practice in between sessions has paid off. The rest of the lesson went better for us for sure. We enjoyed it way more now that the Drill Sergeant realised how advanced we are.

The last lesson before dinner was boring because we had literally learned this stuff we were apparently learning again just three days ago. It think this Drill Sergeant had literally just arrived on camp within the last few days or else he would have known this. To be fair it is probably the first time for Brody who paid attention after the Drill Sergeant literally screamed "PAY ATTENTION" to his face. I so wish Jordon was here to see that. He would never believe me when I tell him at dinner even with Dylan backing me up. We couldn't laugh even if we wanted to which believe me we wanted to, but also didn't want to get screamed at. He is the kind of drill instructor where he will probably scream at us if we cough or something like that.

Dinner was good because it was announced that it was going to be Drill Sergeant time after this as well as mail call. I was excited for mail call the most because it should be time that we get any replies from the letters that we had sent home. We didn't need to talk to our main Drill Sergeant because he had come up to us while we were eating and did it then. "Anyways as I was saying we have a really fun story to tell you," Dylan says, once the Drill Sergeant had left. I know which story he was going to tell, and that Jordon was going to love it. "We had a new Drill Sergeant teach us about how important teamwork is going to be going forward. Brody was not paying attention at all until the Drill Sergeant literally screamed pay attention in his face," Dylan says.

"Really? Oh man I wish I could have been there," Jordon says. I had nodded when Jordon asked really. I wish they all could have been there to see that. It would have been a lot funnier for them if they were actually there to see it for themselves. "Yeah, it would have been funnier if you were there. Then again there was a high risk of you being screamed at too because I don't think that he would have liked it if someone laughed at the situation," I explain. It was just a basic observation I had made which according to the guys my observational skills are essentially a super power. "Yeah from what I have heard from people who were in other camps that man is ruthless and the best of the best," Rigo says.

"Makes sense if we have to be a certain type of guy to make it high up in the army. If we can prove ourselves then maybe we will be Drill Sergeants screaming in recruits faces," Jorel says. You have to be prepared to scream in the army. If you are on the battlefield and there are bullets being fired and bombs exploding you can't quietly give your commands to your fellow comrades. You have to scream them as loud as possible in the hopes of being heard. It is something I have to get used to as well, people shouting, and screaming does scare me still and triggers some memories. I hope the instructors won't yell at me for my jumpy nature. It will get better eventually; it is just right now it is a little hard.

Straight after dinner is Drill Sergeant time like I mentioned before. Since Dylan and I had a brief question and answer session with our Drill Sergeant we go straight to get our mail. I had the envelope with my handwriting that I had left for mother in case she didn't know what the address of the camp was. Luckily they didn't recognise the handwriting as being mine when they handed it to me, they had already told someone off for giving the address to their friend. I can understand why they are more nervous about the address being kept a secret. Anyone on the enemy side can intercept these letters and get the address to use to their advantage. "I love the look on new recruits faces when they get their first letter from home," Rigo says.

He was standing by the officer handing out the letters who just stuck his hand to the right with Rigo's reply. "Yeah, but at the same time I hate the disappointment on the faces of those who do not get one for whatever reason. It is not my fault if your parents can not write back to you or it has not come in yet," Officer McQueen says. It is fair enough; he gets a lot of abuse from recruits who don't get mail even though he only gets handed what the higher ups get from the guards at the front gates. He doesn't have the power to make some of the parents reply. "Definitely, we're blessed to have literate parents," Rigo says. I see out of the corner of my eye the luck of disgust on his face when he says parents.

I don't think a lot of Rigo's friends know about what went on at home. There was the guy who was in the car with us, but other than him I don't think I have heard anyone mention it. Then again, it is something you would rather hide from people. It is why no one else outside of the five people in our billet and that one guy is going to know about it. You are giving them a weakness to exploit if you tell them "oh my father enjoys beating the crap out of me at home." I wonder if father ever writes to Rigo to keep up this façade he has with the army that he is this amazing father who has encouraged his children to fight for their country.

I overheard one of the Sergeant Majors who had gotten off the train yesterday mention how proud my father was of two Murillo boys being in the army. I was glad that he decided to not blow my cover. Apparently he mourns my death when he is at work, any excuse to get out of the tasks he doesn't want to do I guess. That Sergeant Major came up to Rigo and I when we were standing by the table waiting to be told we can go for personal time. "Sergeant Major Murillo, could I ask you and your brother a personal question?" he asks us. I didn't have my Private First Class rank badge yet. If they are going through the ranks quickly then there isn't much point in it. "Sure, you don't mind do you Dan?" Rigo asks, and I shake my head to say that I didn't mind.

"What's the deal with your father? When we were in Los Angeles a few days ago someone asked how his children were doing and he was happy when he mentioned you, Kyle and Lisa but as soon as he mentioned you he broke down in tears saying that you had died and he missed you," he said, point to Rigo for the first you and then me for the rest. Credit where credit is due, father is an incredibly good actor. "Don't say you heard it from me, but he does acid. Danny got attacked just before he left for camp by some crazy homeless dude and father saw him lying on the cot bed and thought he had died," Rigo says, a story which would be totally believable because most of the officers know I was attacked but no one knows who did it.

"Yeah, he needs to lay off the acid then. I am not gonna say anything, but it had been bugging me since I saw your father and just how bat shit crazy he has become. No wonder they aren't letting him back out on the front," the officer says. It is nice to know someone else thinks our father is just as crazy as we do. "Yeah, I think it was the front that messed him up to begin with and then the acid made it worse," I say. I felt comfortable enough to talk to this guy. He seems nice enough and trustworthy. At least he has come to talk to us about his opinions on our father instead of going behind our back as some people have already done. I would rather have people tell me stuff like that to my face instead of keeping it to themselves.

Dylan tackled me to the floor when we got back into the billet and we started play wrestling. Jorel was jealous because I wasn't wrestling with him like we usually do as brothers. Rigo was freaking out inside because he was worried about the scars on my back even though I am fully healed now. "Damn it Dylan, I told you to tackle Matt not Danny," Jordon complains when I get up. I shrug and go to tackle Jorel because I knew that was what he was waiting for. "Okay fine, but I wanted to tackle Danny too," Dylan says and goes back to his position. "Dylan you should know only Jorel gets to tackle Danny like that. It's brother code," George says, he was reading his book again. Maybe I should take up reading again.

"No fair," Dylan whines, but is soon distracted by Matt walking in. I just shake my head and laugh as Matt screams like a girl as he falls to the floor being pinned by our Mexican friend. You would think that with Matt's naturally deep voice he would have a deep scream, but apparently when he is being scared by Dylan he doesn't. I haven't read the letter from mother, maybe I should. Then again I would get sad because I miss her a lot. "Don't worry Dan, it's okay to miss mother," Jorel whispers. I had been twirling the envelope in my hands and considering whether or not I should open it and read it's contents. Rigo sits down next to me and puts his arm around my shoulder. That was the confidence I needed.

_13__th__ February 1917_

_Dearest son,_

_I apologise for my first letter to you being so short. However there is not a lot to update you on with what is going on back home. Lisa Marie and I are doing fine and have not been harmed at all. He has been busy training in the factories now and has been going to the pub almost daily since the day you left. He doesn't show any remorse for hurting you, but then again we knew that was going to be the case. We are going to be letting him know that we are letting Rigo know that you have passed away tonight. I wish I could capture the reaction for you, but that would be too suspicious. He would know that something was up if he saw me with a camera. He is dumb in a lot of ways but not that way to give the bastard some credit._

_The plan is working so far, he does believe that you have been killed by him and are buried in our back yard. I have not seen him mourn though; I am not expecting to either. Although, I wouldn't put it past him to pretend to mourn the loss of you while he is in work. It is almost like he lives a different life when he is in work. some of the colleagues he has have been telling me while we have been going to sign Lisa up for the nursing training. I have been crying over you leaving for the last month anyways, so it was natural for them to believe I was mourning losing you when I showed up to his work all teary eyed. It is strange to think that he is more caring of me when he is in work but is very ready to yell at me when we are home._

_I feel like I am going to lose more as this war goes on. I know that the war is not going to end any time soon. it is already risky having Kyle out on the frontline and I feel like you, Rigo and Jorel are going to end up on the frontline before the end of the year. It just seems like something that is going to be inevitable you know? I should not really be talking about the war like this, but you know Germany is not going to go down without a fight. They are a pretty powerful army, there is no denying that. They are worthy opponents and I will be proud of you should you and your brother join Kyle on the frontlines. I am already proud of you both regardless._

_You have faced so much in your lives and you have become the strongest, bravest and the most perfect gentlemen a mother could ask for. Even if all that had not happened to you I would still be as immensely proud of you as I am right now. Keep your head up my boy, greater things are on the way for you. _

_With all the love in the world_

_Mother_

I almost broken down in tears at the end of the letter. I knew I was going to get emotional because I am a mother's boy. It is pretty much impossible to be a father's boy at this point in my life. Rigo pulled me into a tight hug and I tried to get hold of my emotions. "Don't forget it's okay to cry Danny. You have been through hell this last month or so. It is perfectly fine to let out your emotions," Dylan tells me. I shook my head; I have cried enough over the last month, so I don't have to get upset again. Rigo plays with a stray strand of my hair and I was not sure if they were trying to convince me that crying is worth it. "Dan, come with me," Rigo says, putting me in Jorel's arms for a moment as he got up to go wherever he is going.

It turns out he had gone to his room and I followed him. He closed the door behind him, so I know more now what he is doing. He is going to let me cry in private. "Come here Danny," Rigo says, with that caring fatherly tone he has used since I was small. It made me walk straight into his arms and start sobbing my heart out. "Rigo I hate this so much," I tell him, hoping he could understand me through my sobs. He wraps his arms around me and rubs my back in comfortably rubbing my back. "I know buddy. I know that it hurts, and you miss mother so much. It's gonna be okay, I can see if I can get you a sneaky phone call with mother," he tells me, and all I can do is nod. It would be nice to hear her voice.

"Only if it doesn't get you into trouble," I tell him. I had started calming down now and I felt better now that I had cried. "I know it won't Danny. I am gonna give up my phone call for you," he tells me. He ever so gently wipes the tears from my eyes and puts his hands on my shoulder as he walks out of the room and we go past the guys with him telling them I am fine. We go out of the billet and to the office where the phone is. Someone asks why I am there, and he told them the truth, that he wanted to give up his phone call for me. They accepted it, because it still looked like I had been crying. I didn't have time to wash my face. Rigo starts the call in case it is father that picks up the phone and not mother.

"Hello father, I would like to speak to mother if at all possible. I got her letter today," he tells him, and I could hear father stammer as he tried to come up with an answer. In mother's letter she wrote it like she would have done if I was at home and died. I wish I could have seen his face. Then I hear mother's voice on the receiver as Rigo massages my shoulders. "Rigo?" Mother says, and I look up to my older brother. It felt instantly better hearing her voice. "Hello mother," Rigo says, and I listen as they briefly talk about the letter. "I'm gonna put Dan on the phone. He's been quite upset today," he tells her. There was no way that father could listen in on the phone unless he was right next to mother like I was with Rigo right now.

"Yeah that's okay. He's gone to the pub," I hear mother say and then the phone was passed over to me. "Danny," mother says, and I almost start crying again. Rigo was still massaging my shoulders and looking to get my mood and to change what he is doing to make me happier. "I miss you," I tell her. At least I could hear her voice again. "I miss you too darling. I am proud of you though," she replies, and we talk for ten minutes before we have to leave before it is lights out time. "Thank you so much Rigo," I tell him as we walk back to our billet. I definitely felt a lot better now that I have spoken to mother. "You're welcome baby brother. I am glad that I could help you and make you happier," Rigo tells me.

I went back to the billet and hugged Jorel. "I'm glad whatever you just did made you happier," Jorel tells me. Rigo was also on cloud nine as we got ready for bed and put a fresh layer of polish on our boots. "I let him have a quick chat with mother on the phone," Rigo explains. I was happy as Jorel stayed with me as I was dozing off. "That's good. Danny deserves some happiness after the hell he has suffered lately," I hear Dylan say. It felt nice to hear someone else are about me like that even if they did think I was fast asleep at the time. "He does, I wish I could do more to make him happier," Rigo says. Little does my brother know that he is already doing everything to make me happier. Him just being around me is enough.

_**And that is the end of chapter 8. I hope you enjoyed. Let me know what ya think and I'll see ya next time.**_

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	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_**TW-Mentions of nightmares, homophobia and trauma related topics, descriptions which might trigger some people.**_

_**23**__**rd**__** February 1917 – PFC Danny Murillo's p.o.v**_

I am used to sneaking around, this is not something new to me. I used to sneak out at night to meet up with Jorel who my father did not approve of to begin with. This time it is a lot different and we could get in a lot of trouble. It is also different because it is not Jorel I am sneaking around with. It is Dylan. A couple of days ago Dylan decided to confess his love to me and I am now in a relationship with him. I have had a crush on him for a little while even though we have not known each other for that long. The reason why we are sneaking around is because it is the 1900's, people do not approve of boys being with boys. There is also a strict no relationship rule on the camp which is fair enough.

It is mainly to try and discourage us from trying to date any of the female officers that are on camp which is rare. I can totally understand why though, do not want any babies on camp or people to start affairs which could get them into trouble. They obviously banned males from having relationships which each other, but we have discovered that they cannot really police that. Matt was the one that told me if I had a crush on a dude that this was the way to do it. I think that was because him and Jordon are going out, but they are just as afraid as Dylan and I about coming out to the guys. We know that it is a bit irrational, but we have no idea who else is going to overhear and then tell on us which will get us kicked out of the army.

I do not need to go into details about what will happen to me if I go back home and my father is still allowed to wander the streets. "Dan, you've gone into dreamland again," Dylan whispers, before pulling me out of the way of the torchlight of a passing officer. "Sorry Dyl," I whisper. I hate worrying him, he knows how bad the last beating was because he was there, so he knows how I have been trying to mentally recover now that the physical recovery has finished. We spend a few more minutes kissing in the dark now I was focusing more on the world around me and then we went back to our billet so that we have no worries of being caught by an officer on patrol making sure that everyone is following the rules.

It is not too late in the night so I think I will be able to get enough sleep to not walk around camp like a zombified human in the morning. I know the others are asleep, they were when Dylan and I snuck out. Jorel has been sleeping on his own bed for the last few days because they have been checking on us during the night and they said that we should stop sharing a bed because even though it is innocent, not every officer is going to take it that way. Now that I am feeling better I have been trying to rely less on them for things I typically do myself. Jorel was not that happy with their decision but they were kind enough to warn us that it was something they were not keen on. They did not have to do that and just let us get into trouble.

I think I must have slept for 3 hours and then had one of the worst nightmares so far since I have been here. I woke up screaming and my brother Rigo was by my side in an instant. "Oh Danny, it's okay. It was just a nightmare," Rigo tells me. I hold onto him for dear life while I try to stop crying. One of the officers who was patrolling heard me scream and came in to check on me. The others were woken by my scream. They were watching Rigo calm me down because when I had nightmares before now only he could calm me down. "It's okay sir, just a nasty night terror," George explains to the officer who looked concerned. I would be worried too if I heard a scream in camp without any context to it. I tried my best to calm down, but it was not working.

"Is that true Private Murillo," the officer asks me. I know I am Private First Class, but that rank is too much of a mouthful. "Yes sir," I tell him. Rigo has worked his magic and I am finally calmer than I was when I first woke up. The officer told us to let him know if that changes and that we should start getting ready for physical training in half an hour. I cannot believe it is already 4.30 am. I only knew that because it is still dark outside. I know there is a clock in the mess hall, but I do not think they have put them in the billets just yet. I think it is a good thing for me to have the physical training before breakfast. I wash my face to make it look less like I have just spent twenty minutes crying because of the nightmare/night terror I just had.

Physical training was so good. I cleared my mind as we did the laps of the field and I was ready to face the day and forget that I woke up screaming this morning. No one else heard me scream which is good. I do not think I want to be explaining to everyone on the camp why I woke up screaming in terror this morning. I do not even think I want to explain to all of the guys the details of the nightmare this morning. Rigo, Jorel and Dylan know what went on. They have been told before, when Rigo asked me during my recovery. I was happy to no talk about that nightmare today. I really need to forget about what happened so I can get on with my day and hopefully have a better night tonight when it comes to sleeping.

Rigo walked behind me when we were walking towards the mess hall for breakfast and he had his arms around me. "Dan, do you want to talk to me in private after breakfast? I know something is bothering you," Rigo asks me. I keep forgetting that having my older brother around means I am less likely to get away with bottling my emotions than I have been in the past. It will probably help me if I talk to Rigo about the nightmare. "Yeah, only if it doesn't get us into any trouble," I tell him. At half past 6 the lessons start, and he knows more about what is being taught today than I do. The others had gone ahead apart from Jorel who was hanging back a little bit. "It won't today's first lesson for you is a revision session and I will come and explain to the teacher," Rigo says.

I know all the officers like Rigo, he gets along with them and he is the perfect solider. It is kinda like how they like me because I am quite similar to my brother. "Alright, as long as you're sure," I tell him. Jorel was waiting for us to catch up, he is basically a brother to me, and he is just as worried as Rigo is. "I'm sure Dan. They might not seem like it, but the officers do care about people's mental health. When I first arrived here I was in the same position as you. I did not have anyone, but then George came, and we talked about it for hours. There is one other officer I have talked to, he would probably let you talk to him too," he tells me. He probably felt the same relief and other emotions that I have felt since I arrived.

Jorel hugs me when we walk over to him. The officer who Rigo pointed out to me was the one he talked to about how he felt was the one watching to make sure all the officers and recruits had arrived at the mess hall on time. Jorel and I walked in while Rigo was explaining while we were a minute late to breakfast. It is a good thing though because the line to get your tray with what you want on it is not a long now. Most of the officers and soldiers have had their breakfast given to them now. We got our food and sat down at our usual table just as Rigo walked in. "You know the officer I mentioned earlier Danny? I just spoke to him and he said feel free to speak to him if you need to. He'll keep things confidential," Rigo tells me quietly.

That is good. I know that he might tell Rigo if he is specifically concerned with something that I have told him during the conversation. "Oh Jorel you asked me why you are in a different squad with no one else from our group. Well, I spoke to the commanding officer of your squad and he said that you will eventually become the Tank crew. Tanks are quite new, not many countries have them yet. We definitely do not have any. He says the head of the army wants crews trained up in case we enter the war and need tanks," George explains. I knew Jorel was destined for amazing things in the army. From what I have heard the Tank Crew is the highest requested crew in the armies that are currently on the front.

"That explains it. I guess that is cool, maybe when I know my other squad members a little more then I will feel better about being in it," Jorel says. It does make sense that he would be a bit uncomfortable with it since he does not know the people he is with as well as he knows me and the other guys. It is good that I am with Dylan at least. I think it was what spurred him on to ask me out because we will be spending a lot of time together. He also wants to make me happy and since we both have feelings for each other then I am happier when I am around him knowing that he is my boyfriend even if we have to hide that fact. If things were different then we would have told the others about this, but we have not.

If you are too close and too friendly with your squad members or your friends then people will say things about you behind your back. Breakfast is over now, Rigo had gone up to my Drill sergeant to explain that I knew pretty much everything that we were being taught in that lesson and he wanted to talk to me about something serious and he came up to us and said it was fine as long as I did go to some of the lesson and he could test me on my knowledge. That is a fair enough compromise when you think about it. The test would prove that Rigo was not lying when he said I know the subject we are being taught and it would make Rigo and I much happier having this discussion I can feel it.

On the way past I heard someone whisper faggots. It did not make any sense because we have the same surname on our uniforms and all the officers and most soldiers I have met in the last few weeks know that we are brothers. Pretty much everyone on the camp will know that we are brothers eventually. Especially when I rise up in ranks and they keep using us an example. A lot of Rigo's friends have been eagerly awaiting the youngest brother's arrival to camp. They had seen what 3 of the males in the Murillo family were like as people and they were curious to see who I would be most like. I think I might be more like Rigo than anyone. "Dan was the nightmare you had different to the other ones so far?" Rigo asks, he took me back to our billet so we could have the conversation in private.

"Yeah, it started off with us being in the camp. There was a train of recruits due to arrive that afternoon or evening. For some reason father was on that train, he wanted to kill us both, but you know what he is like for reasons as to why he does what he does. He had brought one of his guns with him. I could not see it properly so I would not be able to tell you what kind of gun it was. We were all asleep and he snuck into the billet we were in and started shooting all of us. He didn't care that we were the last two victims because we all ended up dead anyways," I tell him, shaking as I got into more and more detail. It is not the first time that I have had a nightmare involving our deaths, including Jorel's but never the other guys.

Especially now I have the secret of me dating Dylan. He would definitely hate that If he knew. He was trying to set me up with a female nurse from his work, but we just did not fancy each other in that way so it never went anywhere. It was not something that I focused too much on, he did beat me for not dating her. However, it was the first time mother ever intervened, she told him that at twenty years old I was too young to be looking for someone to settle down with. Even now I turn 22 this year and my mother is going to be surprised when she finds out about Dylan. She is probably expecting me to find the perfect person when I am in my mid to late twenties sort of like Rigo has done. I am not sure it I will be able to live that long to be honest.

I had gone into further gory detail when Rigo asked me about it. I do not quite understand why he asked me about that. I guess it was for me to get it all out so I can start to move on from the nightmare. I was shaking even more when I had finished, but Rigo was encouraging me the whole way and told me if it got too much that I could stop, and he was not going to force me to speak if I was too uncomfortable. When I finally finished speaking, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and Rigo pulled me into a tight hug. "Aw Danny. I am so sorry you had to go through that. I know it is not my fault, but I can't help but feel a little guilty," he tells me. I know it is not his fault, but I guess he feels like there is nothing else he can say.

"How did you feel when you first arrived?" I ask him. I know he mentioned something just before we went to breakfast and now the weight is off my chest I want to talk about something other than the nightmare I had this morning. "Like I said before, I was alone when I first arrived. It was all new to me as I had never left home before. Well, I had worked before, but like you not outside of Los Angeles. I felt so relieved because I was not going to get hurt anymore. At the same time I was upset and felt guilty because at the time I had left you and Kyle to take up the beatings that he had given me. I kept my emotions to myself for at least four months. Then I met Steve and we started talking and eventually I started opening up," Rigo says.

I know him and Steve are quite close, he was the guy who was driving the car in the train station. He was not the one who asked about our father though, he would have known that father beats us to a bloody pulp. The sergeant major who asked us about our father is another one of Rigo's friends, but he has no idea about what is actually going on at home. That is why he accepted the whole our father is on acid story so well. We had only spent about 10 or 15 minutes talking to each other before he took me back to the lesson and I felt a lot better than I did when I first woke up this morning. Rigo was a lot happier with how I am doing mentally now. "Have a good morning little brother and I'll see you at lunch time." Rigo tells me.

"See you at lunch," I tell him. If I were in a squad on my own then I would have not liked the next 5 or more hours where I would be on my own. Dylan smiled when I walked into the room and sat down next to him. The drill sergeant was teaching them and when he was getting them to do group tasks he took me to one side and tested me on the things he was going over during this lesson and I answered them to the best of my memory as possible. I got them all right and he was pretty impressed with all of my military knowledge. "Well done, you really are like your older brother Rigo. A quick learner and it sticks pretty well," he tells me. I knew I was more like Rigo than any other member of my family. It also works with someone calling us twins.

That lesson went really well, and I was feeling as if I was finally fitting in and it was the best feeling in the world. I felt as if I have finally found something that I was actually good at. "Wow Danny, I need to start taking tips from you," Dylan tells me, as we walk to our next lesson which was a first aid lesson. The first lesson was a skill at arms lesson. Some of the other squad members were talking to us and we were slowly gaining popularity in the squad. "I do not really have any tips to give anyone. I was raised in quite a strict military background so most of this was taught to me from quite an early age," I tell them. It was true there is not a lot of things that I can do to help them out because I am from a completely different background to all of them.

"I guess so, but we all wanna be as knowledgeable as you," Thomas says, he is one of those who has started a friendship with us, and I was going to try and expand my friendship circle as much as I possibly can. "Everyone will be as knowledgeable as me one day. All you have to do is work hard and pay attention as much as you possibly can. If you have notebooks, write down as much as possible. They will not tell you off for writing notes which you can go over in personal time," I tell them. It was true I took some notes just so I could give them to Dylan later because I knew that he was less likely to be scribbling down notes than Thomas or Jackson. That is why I was happier to give them that tip even though it was the only tip I can give.

First aid went a lot better than the first time we were put in the squad. The person teaching us did ask if I would spend some time with Brody and get him up to the same level that the rest of us were on. This was because I am at a higher level at the moment so I could use my skills to help someone else. Brody did not like it at first because he is jealous of me, but I know how he feels, and I managed to bring myself down to a level where he would relate to me more and hopefully get along with me better. By the end of it, he did actually thank me and told me he was glad they forced us together. "Hey Brody, I just want you to know that I am not trying to be a bad guy here. If you ever need someone to help you with this then I am here," I tell him.

"Thanks Danny. I know I have come off as a bit of an asshole lately. I guess I tried to make a persona for myself, but it didn't quite work how I planned," Brody says. It does make a lot of sense; people think that it is cooler to go around pretending that you are a big hard person when actually you are hiding a lot of insecurities. People do not often want you to know what their true background is, especially when there are stigmas or stereotypes attached to it. "You're welcome Brody. Don't worry people do it all the time," I tell him. I know that Jordon would not be too impressed that my relationship with Brody has improved slightly, but I am not really that bothered. He does not have to be friends with Brody if he does not want to be.

There is one more lesson before lunch time. I cannot exactly remember what the topic is off the top of my head. We only get told what the lesson is when we actually arrive. Since we are not used to the squads yet, we are not marching from building to building, but as soon as a couple of weeks pass we will be settled in and we will have to march in formation with our main drill sergeant every where we need to go after breakfast until dinner time. The only time we do not have to march is when we go from the billet to the mess hall as we are all in different billets to each other. The next lesson goes really well, and everyone was being praised by the people teaching us which made us all feel good. It was the first time Brody had ever been praised.

Rigo was desperate to hug me when we made it to the mess hall, but he restrained himself. There was one of the stranger officers in charge of the mess hall and he does not care if you are related or not but there is no physical contact when he is around. We can hug when we take our personal cutlery and our mugs back to the billet just before the next 4 and a half hours of training sessions for this afternoon begin. "How did your lessons go this morning then lads?" George asks us. It is nice to see how different all the squads are. "I think it went well. Started getting along with all the squad members now including Brody which is something that I was not expecting," I tell him. Jordon would have spat out his drink if he had a mouth then I said my last sentence.

"He's not as bad as you think. It is just a front he has put on; he is actually really nice. Before Danny was partnered with him I was partnered with him whilst Danny was out, and he is really nice. He told us both it is just a front that he puts on and he wants to change," Dylan says. We both have the same story to tell because we are in the same squad and Matt and Jordon will also have the same story. "I guess if he makes an effort to be nicer and friendlier then I should too," Jordon says, and I smile. We will all have to put our differences aside when it comes to later on in training. If they send us to the frontline then they will most likely send their strongest squads out there. That means we may have to work with someone we might not initially like.

"That's good Jordon. I know it is hard but accepting Brody will go a long way into proving how much of a good solider you are. We're all being assessed all the time to see if we have the qualities it takes to rise up in the ranks," Rigo says. He is right though, we do not often realise it, but they are observing us all the time to see how we react and how we behave all the time to see which ranks we deserve. Rigo has told me about people that have been there on the same day he arrived, and they have only just been promoted to sergeant while he is 5 ranks ahead of them. He even said we would be sergeants and that guy would only just be sergeant major. Some people will be in the same squad as you and be several ranks behind you.

"It's weird being in the Tank crew. It is like they are still going through all of the things that you are learning but they are telling us almost every lesson as soon as America starts producing tanks then we are going to switch. I also don't get along that well with my squad members just yet," Jorel says. I think they are just jealous because they are not as skilled or amazing as Jorel is. I know there is a guy who Jorel said was more of an idiot than Brody acted. That is some skill because even Brody admitted that he acted like quite an idiot. "I wish I could get Dan transferred into your crew, but they are extremely picky on who goes in and those that are not in the Tank crew are destined for other equally great squads," George tells him.

I feel bad for Jorel. I would love for him to have someone he gets along with like Jordon and Mattie have and that Dylan. "If it gets too bad let one of us know and we will try and sort something out to make the members of your crew friendlier with you. There should not be any bulling, or they will get black bagged*," Rigo says, earning him confused looks from the newer guys. I was surprised that they did not mention being black bagged on our first day here. "Black bagged means basically if you have done something really naughty you get changed into your civilian clothes and your army uniform and stuff goes into a black bag and you get sent home never to return to the army again," I tell them. It was something that I was taught from an early age.

"Ah so being black bagged is something that you want to avoid like the plague," Dylan says, and Rigo nods. That is pretty much how I would explain why I would not want to ever be black bagged. It also damages your pride to be sent home in this way. Consider it to be a dishonourable discharge because that is basically what it is. Nobody and I mean nobody wants to leave the military this way. It is definitely something that even if you just mentioned the word black bag to someone they would straighten up immediately. Kyle has been the only one of us who has ever been threatened with it and he said it was the scariest thing he has ever experienced in his life. Everyone in the camp at the time would not stop talking about it for weeks.

We had a good afternoon of training. Today we were the first group allowed on the shooting range to practice shooting targets. We have done some shooting before as it was one of the first tests that we had done before we moved up to the level we are on now. We need to be good at shooting before we move up and potentially get sent onto the frontlines. They do not want to send people who are not good with the weapons and can not shoot their enemies. "How is it that you Murillo men are spot on with your targets all the time?" The officer overseeing the lesson asks. I was not surprised that I was going to be asked that because he would have taught Rigo and Kyle the same things that he is teaching me right now.

"Father used to make us practice on paper targets first then on live animals like chickens or rabbits while we were growing up. I think he wanted us to sign up for the military, but I am not sure sir," I explain being as honest as possible. There was nothing else I could say which would be a realistic explanation as to why I am only a month and 11 days into my military career, and I can shoot targets like someone who has been in their career for 5 years or more. I could have lied, however considering Rigo and George are usually involved with all the meetings they would tell it was a lie straight away. "Rigo and Kyle both said the same thing when I asked them. I should have known it was the same for you as well," the officer says, he knew I was telling the truth.

In our fieldcraft lesson today we are learning about the things we will need for our first camping task. We will be sleeping in what is called a Basha. It is like a tent only it is a long sheet of waterproofed fabric with eyelets which we use pegs and bungee cords to secure it to the ground and potentially a tree depending on your location. It does not have the luxury of doors to keep the wind, side rain or the cold out. However, you are not supposed to have a comfortable life when you are out on the field doing missions. I suppose that was something that I already knew because my father made sure I had an extremely uncomfortable life from an early age. He made us all spend a night in a Basha on our own with nothing to eat or drink or to sleep in when we were 5 years old.

I am definitely beginning to realise just how truly fucked up my childhood actually was. No father would make their child sleep under just a waterproof sheet shaped like a tent with no survival gear when they are only 5 years old. That is one thing I am going to keep to myself though, no one needs to know about how fucked up my childhood was. I would tell the guys though because it is helping with my recovery mentally to open up more about how I feel. I might talk to Rigo about that later because I was traumatised when I was 5 and the prospect of sleeping overnight in a Basha, even sharing it with Dylan seems terrifying. I have to do it though, but I am sure that my older brother will give me the pep talk that I need to get through this.

Dinner was pretty uneventful really, we just discussed how the rest of the lessons went and I asked Rigo if I could have another private chat with him during personal time. Drill sergeant time was equally uneventful, and we sent our next updates to our families. Our drill sergeant had been informed of me waking up screaming at 4.30 am this morning and had asked if I was okay. He wanted me to be honest with him and if there was anything that he could do to help me then I had to let him know no matter how stupid I find my situation being. I told him that I had a night terror and it was about the attack that happened before I left for camp which he knew about. I was lying, but I was not going to tell him the truth especially in front of everyone in the mess hall.

People eavesdrop no matter how quiet the conversation is between you and the other person. If you happen to say anything it could be misheard then spread around the camp like wildfire. You do not want to say anything which could be taken out of context and then become rumours which you both have to disprove to your squad members, but also your drill sergeant and the commanding officers. I might have just done that myself by asking to have a private chat with my older brother, but I really do not give a shit at this point. I know if I delay this talk then I am going to screw myself over. I do not want to get to the night before we leave on our overnight camping exercise and have a panic attack because I really do not want to do it anymore.

Jordon and Dylan decided that they were going to clean the billet when we got in after our drill sergeant time. Jorel wanted to be part of the conversation and I did not mind and neither did Rigo. Jorel is like a brother to me as I have mentioned before. "What's up Dan?" Rigo asks me. I sit on his dresser and they sit on the bed. "We had our first fieldcraft lesson centred around the Bashas today and it just sent me right back to when I was five and I spend that night out in the back yard," I tell him. It was vague but it was all Jorel and Rigo needed to know. Jorel got off the bed and hopped onto the dresser and I rest my head on his shoulder. "I definitely felt the same when I was in your level of training. I was in the same squad as George at the time which was a fricking God send in my opinion," he tells me.

This is one of those moment where I probably wish Jorel was with me. I am sure that Rigo will tell him about it so that he knows why I would probably be a little more emotional and quieter when we do spend the night out in the nearest field. "Yeah, I am a bit scared of going if I am being honest with you," I tell him. I should probably discuss a different topic because we turn the lights out in an hour, and I do not want to wake up screaming for the second morning in a row. "I know you will be bud; I'll mention to Dylan and see if you can cuddle up in the Basha like George and I did that night. We were lucky that we did not have to do anything that night and I could deal with it," Rigo tells me. I am sort of hoping that will happen with me.

I do doubt it though, because back then they did not have as high of a reputation from the Murillo boys as they do now. We will just have to wait and see what happens. I go over to Rigo and he pulls me onto his lap to hug me whilst he tells me somewhat of a bedtime story. We have done this pretty consistently since I was 5 and even now as an adult I still enjoy listening to his stories. Even Jorel enjoys his stories as we start winding down for bed. I had taken my boots off and put the layer of polish on them and washed up before I started my conversation with Rigo in case I fall asleep before I make it to my bed. If we all make it out of this alive Rigo has to start making children's bedtime stories and he would be highly successful with it as well.

_**And that is the end of another chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you think down below.**_

_***fun fact: as I have mentioned before a lot of these descriptions and events are based on my time in the UK Army Cadets which is something I thoroughly enjoyed through my early teen years. I slept in a billet, was told that if we stepped out of line on a weekend in camp then we would be black bagged and I slept in a Basha in a field on the camp for two nights.**_

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	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_**Woahhh we're halfway there.. Woahhh living on a prayer (can't stop won't stop)**_

_**8**__**th**__** March 1917 – Private 2 Jorel Decker's p.o.v**_

Today is Danny's last night on the fieldcraft exercise and sometime either tomorrow morning or the afternoon he will be coming back to camp. I have missed him a lot and I knew that he was not happy about going, but he knows that he has do it as part of his training or he will never get passed this level of training if he didn't and he is destined to be one of the top ranking officers in this army. Even us in the Tank crew don't get away with missing out on that exercise. At least we can learn about how we can survive should our tank explode. It is essential if we were to be deployed on the battlefield in France and our tank were to explode due to the battle then we would need to be confident enough to flee if necessary and survive until back up arrives.

"I hope Danny is doing alright out there," Rigo tells me. We were watching the sun come up through the window, by sitting on the dresser closest to Danny's bed. I have caught Rigo before on the dresser when I have needed the bathroom in the middle of the night and he would be watching Danny sleep as I suppose it brought him some comfort. Danny always looks at peace when he is asleep unless he has a nightmare. It is like nothing bothers him. "I'm sure he will be fine. He will be with Dylan and they have become close as of late," I tell him. I am sure what is going on between Dylan and Danny is more than brotherly, but if they are too afraid to tell us then I shall keep it a secret until they themselves feel confident to share that.

"I suppose you are right. I trust Dylan with little brother's life. I would just feel more comfortable having him back," Rigo tells me. He considers me to be another little brother which is quite nice when my own family didn't care for me really. I have definitely been adopted by the Murillo family unofficially by everyone bar the father. I suppose I don't wish to be adopted by their father, that would mean that I would be subjected to the same treatment. I would not even wish for the German people or their allies to go through what Danny, Rigo and Kyle have been through and to a certain extent still go through today even if they are thousands of miles away. "Definitely, he will come back a stronger man if that was possible," I tell him.

In doing what he is doing he is facing one of his biggest fears. Danny last did something like this only 17 years ago. He is only 21 now and has the military experience which would probably be half of his age in terms of years. "He will, just as I and Kyle did when we were in his shoes. It is hard for someone so young to relive the trauma especially when you have to hide it from everyone you know," Rigo tells me. We knew Danny was starting to get the hang of hiding his nightmares from people now even if we were the only ones he had opened up to. If I went through any of what I have seen and heard about Danny's childhood I would have nightmares as well. I am surprised that I didn't have nightmares myself from just hearing about it.

The night after he found out he was going on the exercise Danny and I spent a long time going though the night which went so horribly wrong and was a prime example of why their father has failed them in so many was since they were only one year old. The first year of life must have been the best for all three of them yet it is so unfortunate that they would never be able to remember it. That would be the only proof that they would ever have of their father actually loving and care for them in the way that they should be. Rigo should have always been the older brother, the one who would be inheriting the father's estate and business. However Rigo always found himself stepping in for his father's role and calm his brothers down and raise them.

"Do you think you would have ever adopted your brothers if things were different?" I ask him. I know if it were possible for me to have been a lot older than Danny that I would have pushed for adoption and to take him away from his father. "Maybe but knowing how well mother has coped with all of this and was a lifeline to all of us that I would feel cruel especially after that night when he was five," Rigo tells me. Thinking about it further I am more inclined to agree with Rigo. Margo even became a mother of sorts to me. Her love for her children is something that I think all women strive to achieve. She would often have to do more than a usual mother would especially when it came to picking up the pieces after her husband's destruction.

_**January 11**__**th**__** 1901 – Daniel Murillo's p.o.v – Aged 5**_

I'm currently sitting on the floor by the fire playing with my little teddy bear. Father said he was preparing a surprise for me in the garden. He told me that Rigo and Kyle also had this surprise a few months after their fifth birthday and now it is my turn. Rigo and Kyle were told not to talk to me about it, father said if they did they would ruin the surprise and get into trouble. I never asked them because of this, but I am desperate to know why. I am trying to not get too impatient because father would hit me if he caught me acting impatient. All I could know about it was that it was in the garden and once he was finished with it he would take me outside and show me. Mother is sitting in her chair and said she was knitting me a new blanket.

She didn't talk about my surprise either, maybe father told her not to tell me as well. Even my sister was not allowed to tell me anything. She was not even allowed to play with me which was something that I wanted. Kyle and Rigo get to play with me when they are not doing work. Father told them to work today, I suspect so there is not a chance that they will get into trouble for telling me what the secrets are. "Daniel, when you go outside please leave your teddy inside," mother tells me. She never allows us to take our toys anywhere outside of the house in case they get ruined. She told me that we cannot afford to get another one. "Yes mama," I tell her. I only call her mama when father is not around, he would rather me call her mother.

"You've always been such a good boy," she tells me. I just try my best to be the good boy everyone wants to me. I do not want to do anything wrong which would make father want to hit me. I do not think my plan is working very well though, he has not stopped hitting me no matter how well I behave during the day. He will always find something wrong with what I do. I give my mother my teddy when father calls me that my surprise is ready. I was a little scared, but I have to be brave because he would most certainly hit me if he knew I was scared. I follow behind him as he walks into our back yard where there was a Basha, he already told me what that was before. I would listen to him when he would teach my brothers about the army.

"Now my boy, when I was your age my father would make me sleep in this very Basha for one night after I turned five years old and now it is your turn as your brothers before you," he tells me. Camping in the Basha does not sound too scary. From what father had already told me, it did not seem so bad after all. I did not respond to father because he only wanted me to talk to him when he asked me a question. We both sat inside the Basha and I didn't notice anything unusual. Then all of a sudden father left and went back into the house, locking the door behind him. I studied the Basha more and realised that I was going to be spending the night alone, in the dark with nothing for warmth or light. I didn't even have food or drink.

I am starting to believe that my grandfather did not do this with father and he is just making it up to make himself sound better. I am going to have to ask Rigo about this when this is over. It is only late afternoon; I can do this. I can make my father proud of me. At least it is not raining and there is a light by the back door when it gets dark. Although I have a feeling that I am not going to get that light if father has his own way. All I can do is lie down on the ground and pray to God that this is over quicker than I expect it too. I am used to not eating much, so going without dinner tonight did not phase me one bit. I am not sure how I will feel about sleeping in the dark though, I have never done that before. Mother had always left a candle lit in my room at night.

Then the rain came, and with it some thunder and lightning. I no longer felt safe in the little Basha I am being made to sleep in as I hear the storm rage over my head. I want my mama and my brothers. I really do not like this anymore. This is not fun anymore; this is far from fun. I would probably compare this to the descriptions of hell that I have heard about in the bible mother would read to me every day. Part of me is glad that father is not here to watch me. I was curled up in the tightest ball possible, crying and whimpering. I could hear Rigo arguing with father inside, they were both shouting at the top of their lungs, like usual when father goes and does something that he does not like.

He will be forced to stay in the house the entire time. Father would not allow anyone to interfere when it was his turn and Kyle's turn even if I weren't born during those times. I doubt that he would let anyone interfere tonight. He would not care if I became scared of the dark or scared of thunderstorms. He would probably be happy in the fact that he will have something new to hit me over. Rigo told me fairly recently that our father would use any of our weaknesses against us and that he seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It was already a little dark because of the storm and I knew night was on it's way soon. It is still winter time so the night still arrives earlier than it did in the summer time. I might have liked this a little bit if it was in the summer.

Maybe if I go to sleep then the morning will come quicker and I can go inside where it is dry and warm. Then mother can give me some of her amazing cooking and I can play with Rigo again. That would be once he has come home from school and he had done all of his chores. I curl up tighter as the storm gets worse, my tears never stopped flowing. The storm never stopped during the night which seemed to last forever. I did not sleep in the end. I was too cold, wet, and frightened to attempt to sleep. I was really tired; I have not had a night quite like this before. As soon as the light from the sun started to light up my little tent. I heard the door unlock finally after so long suffering in the cold and damp of our back yard. I never want to do this again.

I had finally ran out of tears by the time the owls had fallen asleep. There was even a squirrel who joined me for a short time, even the little animal had left me to sleep. "Aw Danny come here," Rigo tells me. He had appeared at the entrance of my little Basha, as I tried to wipe my face to try to not look like I had spent the night crying. He took me into his arms and I held on as tightly as I could. I did not want him to put me down ever again. He held me in a comforting and reassuring grip as he carried me into the house where mother was nervously waiting with a warm bath. "I knew this overnight camping was a bad idea from the start. Especially on a night like last night," Mother tells Rigo, who was in the middle of getting me ready for the bath.

"Indeed, I would not be surprised if the poor bear did not get any sleep last night and develops a fear of the dark and thunderstorms," Rigo tells mother. I was still rubbing my eyes and I was happy father was at work. He would not have let me sleep like I am sure mother will once she has done with her bath. "Mama, I do not like camping anymore," I tell her. Rigo placed me into the bath and she had started gently cleaning me of all the mud that I was covered in after my night outside. "I am sure you do not my darling. I am so sorry that you had to go through that," she tells me. I do not know why she was so sorry about it; she wasn't the one who had made me sleep in the Basha last night. Father had done and I did not like him for it.

I felt much better once the bath was done. Mother got me changed into some clean and warm clothes and sat with me on her lap in her rocking chair by the fire. Rigo placed a blanket over me as mother started to slowly rock backwards and forwards on the chair. I was fast asleep in no time, with the thoughts and memories of last night so far away now. Mama and Rigo would look after me and keep me safe I just know it. Even my other brother Kyle and my sister Lisa Marie would keep me safe, even if I did not see them before I had fallen asleep. I will be wide awake and back to acting like my usual self before father gets home from work tonight. He will never know that I had a bath or slept during the day which he disapproved of.

_**Back to 8**__**th**__** March 1917- Private 2 Jorel Decker's p.o.v**_

"The morning that I had to get Danny out of that Basha was one of the worst of my life. He was so small and frightened. I thought he was going to scream if I dared touch him. I was lucky he sought that comfort from me that father would never give him. I still do not forgive father for the trauma he inflicted on Danny that night," Rigo says, as he recounts the night of the 11th of January 1901. I did know and play with Danny back then and even I had noticed that something was different about Danny after that night. He was a lot quieter than usual and a heck of a lot more prone to jumping. He had become scared of both the dark and the thunderstorm. Though he is not one to admit it, we both know he is still scared of thunderstorms to this day.

"Definitely, that is one of the things I could never forgive your father for that either. It is one of many things that your father has done to all three of you that I can not get over in terms of just the nastiness of it all," I tell him. It is nice for Rigo to have this avenue to vent with someone about how horrible his childhood was. "Indeed, I do not often tell of how I was the one who had essentially raised Danny as a male role model. I was the one who got him over the fear of the dark and tried to help with the thunderstorms," Rigo tells me. I knew what that entailed as it was common for the male children to sleep in one bed together and the female got a single bed to herself. You would consider that to be unfair until you realise that it was the only way Danny slept at night in his early childhood.

"I know and I am sure I can speak on Danny's behalf when I tell you that without you he would not be the man he is today," I tell him and he smiles. It was almost breakfast time and we did not mind that we have less sleep than our peacefully sleeping comrades around us. We had already done most of our preparation for the day apart from clean out boots when it comes to our morning parade after both our physical training and our breakfast this morning. It is weird to have Danny's squad not their when we have our morning parades. I can not wait until tomorrow morning or afternoon when Danny's squad marches through the gates to the camp and back to his two brothers and the rest of his friends waiting for his and Dylan's return.

I count myself as a brother more than a friend, because I have been there for so long and been through so much with him. I have been in his life for 21 years which is a length of friendship rarely seen. Matthew and Jordon had only been friends for 7 years themselves. It was something which is very bizarre, it gave us some strange looks certainly when we were on the trains and in the first few weeks of training. Now people are starting to see long term friendships as good things, because in order to get the best out of your squad you need to work together and you will be made to work together for an exceptionally long time to come. Who knows when this war will end? Who knows when America will finally make their first boot prints on the beaches of France?

I know there is already one squadron out on the frontlines. It is the one with Kyle in it, however the army and Kyle are not allowed to tell us which country they have been sent to. I know that it is not France however as the French continually complain about President Woodrow Wilson's neutrality about all of this since 1914 when the war initially broke out. I suppose it is due to the rumours that the President was friends with the Huns which is the name we had adopted for the German people. It was simply not true, especially since the Germans sunk RMS Lusitania back in May 1915 and we had lost 128 American people on that day. However despite all of these rumours we are proof that the President was trying his best to strengthen his small army to be big enough to even compete with the German and Austrian-Hungarian ones.

"Mother told me last night that Lisa Marie has been forbidden by father to become a military nurse. I suppose it is for the best really, mother does not need to have her fourth child and only daughter away from her," Rigo tells me, just as the other boys had started to wake up as you could hear boots crunching on the frosty ground around us. "That is for the best even if it is disappointing for her. Mother has already got four boys out here, she does not need to lose her only daughter to the career she probably despises so much," I tell him. Again, I am counting myself as more of a member of the Murillo family than the Decker one. It is hard not to count yourself in when you felt like you fitted in more with your friends family than your own.

"Definitely. Especially when all of us fear that by us not being there anymore that father would turn his hand on mother. That is the one thing that we would never forgive ourselves for if father hurt mother because we were not around to hurt," Rigo tells me. It was definitely something even I worried about, I would rather be hurt by that monster than let him lay a hand on Margo. He doesn't really care for her anyway, so Lisa Marie is the only one who can care for her and love her while her sons are away. It was something that if Danny knew about, would make him feel even guiltier for leaving than he does already. "Maybe we should send something nice when we next send our letters. Make mother feel better about the whole situation," I tell him, as I pull my boots on.

The others were hearing our conversation but didn't contribute anything. They were used to Rigo and I having these kinds of conversations since Danny and Dylan left for the training exercise. There are a lot of things that Rigo and I talk about that we would not talk about in front of Danny purely because we want to protect him. We are not over protective, he would not be here if we were. "Definitely. We could get Danny to draw something nice maybe when he sends his next letter," Rigo says, then we hear the shouts of commanding officers making sure everyone is awake and ready for physical training. "Good idea must talk to Danny about that when he gets back," I tell him, as we lightly jog out of the door to join up with our squads.

This would be one of the last chances I get to speak with Rigo like this. The next time would be at one of the meal times or when it is closer to lights out time. I know Rigo is more anxious than the rest of us for today to fly by so that Danny can return to us tomorrow. He will want an early night, just as Danny did when he was 5 so that the night would hurry and things would be over. "Jorel, I'm sorry that we have not been as kind to you that you have been to us. I would like to make amends," Joseph tells me, we were doing a cool down walking lap of the track. It was something that I was hoping for from my fellow squad members but I wouldn't force them into it. It would feel less genuine that way, more forced in my opinion.

"No worries Joseph I know that it has been a rough adjustment period for everyone. Especially when you think that you are going to be put with all of your friends and you don't end up with all of them," I tell him. I can sympathise if that is what is bothering everyone. "Definitely, I guess it is harder for you because the ones you are close with are in different squads," he tells me. It might have been obvious how close Danny and I are. "It is, but I know that some of my friends are also in the same situation," I tell him. It was nice to just talk to him for once, like Brody and Danny did. You find that people are much nicer than you expect them to be this way. We talk for the rest of the physical training session and start to become good friends.

We were not told off for talking to each other just yet. They want us to get to know each other more as we will be working closer to each other over the coming months. Especially as we have just formed the squads and there are a lot of adjustments to make. You might have thought that you hated someone before the squads were formed and now you are put with those people and it becomes worse. Then you have moments like I have with Joseph today and I hope that I can be friends with the rest of my squad so I would not feel so lonely. It was good to know that my fellow squad members were not as much of an asshole as I was expecting them to be. It has played out quite like Brody's story in many aspects, they pretended to be people they were not and it's all fallen down around them.

During the lunch time after a long morning of finally being able to bond with all of my squad members Rigo and I are finally able to discuss our plan to support Danny through all of the trauma that this exercise would have brought up for him that he might not have opened up to Dylan about while they are out. We have no idea what role Danny had during the exercise which also means that we have no idea what he has opened up or kept bottled up. It mainly involves talking to Danny in any breaks he has in the billet and in private. They will give him the rest of the day off when he comes back from the exercise tomorrow anyway which will give Rigo the perfect opportunity to spend that time with his brother that he needs to get through this.

"They are coming home in the morning, shortly before lunch according to one of the other officers. Then they have the rest of the day of to settle back in and to get used to being in the camp again as they have worked really hard during the last week," Rigo tells me when we are getting ready for bed tonight. I believe the officer in charge was sending telegrams back to base to report on their progress. To say that Danny has done well would be a little bit of an understatement. He has done incredibly well and Dylan has as well. I do not think that it would be easy for Dylan to deal with the mental trauma Danny went through that is coming back to haunt him. "That is good, I suppose they will give you some time to spend with your brother if they know what's going on," I tell him.

"A majority of the high commanding officers and those in charge have no idea what we went through. It would almost certainly lead to our deaths and maybe even yours and those that we live with. I naturally have tomorrow afternoon off as the squadron I would have been teaching will be doing the same thing Dan and Dylan are returning from ," Rigo tells me. It makes sense, as they were lucky the first time that he was taken to court for what he had done. Danny was only three years old at the time and it was before I could remember things. He would scream and cry in terror in the court when his father went near him, even say no when father wanted to take him anywhere. It didn't go to plan because he managed to say that Danny was being manipulated into acting this way to get him into trouble.

"I would love to take Danny for a tour around the little village near us. Just to get him out of the camp and to explore the world a little more," Rigo says, it was something Danny told me he had been promised on our way up here on our first day. There has been a building pressure on our President to declare war on Germany which he has not done so yet. It is also the reason why Danny and Rigo haven't had that chance to go off to explore the village yet. Training has been intense since we arrived and it is not going to ease any time soon. Both France and Britain are losing a lot of their men already and looking to America for help. It does not help that not all of the American citizens do not approve of going to war either. Well, those that aren't in the army disapprove.

"Yeah, it would be nice for even us to juts wander around the local village and get to know the people who claim to love us being around," I tell him. Like I thought on the first full day of us being here I was ready to see a new side to my best friend. I already see him happier and more relaxed than I have ever seen him. It's not always been that way though, and part of me realised this when we were on the train here. 20 years of abuse is a lot, and it is not going to be something Danny, Rigo or Kyle would find themselves instantly healed from. Even Rigo has moments when he needs comfort and someone to vent to when it gets rough. That is where George comes in and is why he is so close to Rigo like I am to Danny. We do whatever it takes to get them through the pain.

_**The next afternoon – Private First Class Daniel Murillo's p.o.v**_

It felt so good when we marched through the gate and were back on camp. Do not get me wrong, I did enjoy the exercise we had just been on. I just hated all of the 17 year old trauma that it brought up. I did thank god that there were no thunderstorms this time. That would have made it worse for sure. I took full advantage of being able to snuggle up to Dylan for warmth without being questioned and without him knowing how he made me feel a whole lot better. I was definitely not ready to talk to him about that although I already opened up to Jorel and Rigo about it. They were there back then and it was just more of a confirmation of how little five year old me felt being alone in the cold, damp darkness of that night.

We marched into the parade square, did our debriefing, and left all of the camping gear and leftover rations where they told us to and we disbanded to go back to our billets for the rest of the day. As soon as we got into the billet I practically threw myself into my brothers waiting arms. Dylan was not surprised though because I told him I had missed my brother a lot. "Well done little brother bear," Rigo tells me. I held onto him tightly as the relief washed over me as it had done when he picked me up when I woke up when I was 5 in the Basha for the first time. I felt like I could not say anything so I just hugged him. Then we sat down on my bed and with my permission he told Dylan what happened when I was 5 so he could understand why this is such a big deal to me.

"The more I learn about your father the more I hate him. I am really sorry that both of you went through that," Dylan tells us. It was good that he doesn't feel any different about me even though he knows that I was scared of the dark and sleeping in a Basha and still am scared of thunderstorms. "It's not your fault, to this day we still do not know why he does what he does to us. We are just lucky that we have this escape," I tell him. It is hard to explain or even attempt to provide a reason when you have no idea why it happens to you to begin with. You can't justify why something happens to you when the person doing it does not give you a reason other than a somewhat childish because I can excuse. I think he might have used the my father did this to me, but I met my grandfather before he died and I did ask one day and he said he would never even dream of hitting his children.

It was a goof thing and a bad thing at the same time. I do not think he ever told father what went on that day between us before he died. I was never hit for it, so I assume nothing was said. "You are and we are lucky to have the two of you around," Dylan tells me. He had to include Rigo or else it would have sounded like we are dating and I am not ready to come out to my brother. He will probably be fine with it but it is too soon in my opinion. "We are lucky that the army accepts us and we are allowed to progress as far as we have done so far and that father has not attempted to sabotage it," Rigo tells him. The army is definitely becoming a second family for Rigo and I. It is a place which will accept you no matter what background you have and where you came from. Everyone is treated equally here and it is amazing.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sandwiched between Rigo and Dylan and it was pure bliss. I can't wait for Jorel and the others to come back so we can enjoy each other's company and just talk about anything other than the exercise we just came back from hopefully. Even though I just relived all that trauma with Rigo and Dylan I don't think I have the energy to do it all over again. "Don't worry Dan, I'm not going to make you relive any more trauma today. You have been through enough," Rigo tells me, after we had be laying there for a while. I was comfortable enough to fall asleep after a while in between my lover and my brother.

_**Meanwhile back in California**_

No one is home, which is a good thing. My bastard sons are out dying in a pointless war. I already killed one of them before he had the chance to leave. The women left to go and do the shopping which is allowing me to do this. I am going to rummage through my room to see where my bitch of a wife keeps all of her letters from the boys. I just want to know what they are saying about the army life since they do not speak to me anymore. I do not know why they haven't bothered, even when Rigo is phoning home he always asks to speak to Margo or Lisa and never me. I find the box under the bed and open it. I find Rigo and Kyle's letters and flip through them. After a little while they are all the same. Then I find something I was not expecting.

_**Oooh shit's going down! Anyways if you like this please let me know. Also please remember none of these events happened to the guys or their families IRL and I have a ton of respect for all families I use in my stories. Also happy VE (victory in Europe aka end of WW2 day)**_

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